Welcome to Serving Up With... our series where food becomes the entry point into deeper conversations about culture; where cooking is more than just what’s on the plate. With every episode, we’ll be passing the mic to some of our favourite culinary creatives as they dish out new perspectives on identity, politics, history and community, all through the lens of what (and how) we eat and drink – reframing how we think, one unique recipe at a time...
“Everyone loves a golden, flaky patty, right? But where did it come from?” For our latest episode, self-professed “local patty lady to the masses” Denai Moore traces the history of the Jamaican patty – a dish that tells a story of resilience, creativity and cultural exchange.
It’s a story Denai herself knows well. Born in Jamaica and raised in London, the artist and chef has spent her career blending creativity across mediums – from music to cooking – inspired by her heritage, travels and upbringing.
In 2017, she launched Dee’s Table, a pop-up vegan Jamaican restaurant born from nostalgia and a desire to celebrate the flavours of home. And now, she’s taking that mission one step further with her latest venture, Flaky! – a “neighbourhood patty shop” popping up all across London, dedicated to her signature Jamaican patties (discover her signature recipe below). Deeply rooted in childhood memories, Flaky! is Denai’s way of paying homage to the patty shops she grew up visiting in Jamaica – spaces filled with warmth, familiarity and the unmistakable scent of freshly baked pastry.
But as Denai reminds us in her video below, the Jamaican patty is more than a beloved snack. From roadside stalls in Kingston to bakeries in Brixton, it’s travelled across oceans and generations – carrying stories of migration, adaptation and identity in every bite. So as she serves up her signature dish, Denai invites us to look beyond the flaky crust, to see the patty not just as food but as a vessel for memory, belonging and all the flavours that have shaped the Jamaican diaspora...
Denai Moore’s Callaloo Patty Recipe
Ingredients
Callaloo Filling:
2 bunches of fresh callaloo, leaves stripped and roughly chopped
1 shallot, finely diced
1/4 scotch bonnet, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
100ml vegetable stock
50g creamed coconut (dried one in a block)
A glug of olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Easy Patty Crust:
400g plain flour
215g cold block of butter
3 teaspoon ground turmeric
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoona granulated sugar
180ml cold water
To Make The Filling:
1. Add a good glug of olive oil to a high side frying pan and fry shallots on a medium heat for 4-5 minutes till slightly caramelised.
2. Add the scotch bonnet and chilli and fry for another 2-3 minutes, until fragrant.
3. Add the callaloo and season with salt and pepper. Drop the heat to low and add the stock and creamed coconut. Allow to steam for 5-6 minutes until completely wilted and soft. Transfer to a bowl and allow to completely cool.
To Make The Crust:
1. Cut the butter into two pieces of 95g and 120g and freeze the 90g block for 15-20 minutes, then cube it and keep it cold in the refrigerator.
2. In a food processor, combine the flour, turmeric, sea salt and sugar. Blitz until combined. Add one 95g block of cubed butter and blitz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Slowly stream in the water and blend until it comes together as a dough. Wrap in cling film (plastic wrap) and rest for one hour in the refrigerator.
3. Freeze remaining two blocks of 60g butter while the pastry is resting. Once rested, remove the pastry from the refrigerator and roll it into a rectangle, then grate one of the blocks of butter over the top to cover. Fold over either side of the pastry rectangle to meet in the middle, sealing in the edges. Then, fold again in the other direction. Seal together, wrap in cling film and rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Repeat the process with the other block of butter.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C fan.
5. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) thick. Cut out as many circles as you can for the patties. Add a heaped tablespoon of the callaloo mixture onto one half of each circle leaving a 1.5 cm (1/2 inch) gap around the edge. Brush with a little bit of water, fold the empty half of the pastry over the filled side and crimp. Repeat until you’ve made all the patties.
6. Place the patties on a baking tray and brush with more non-dairy milk. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and flaky.
