Beggar's Purses

I grew up eating my mother's amazing Middle Eastern Food every day, and frequently use spices such as curry and "baharat" in my own cooking like I do in these spectacular Beggar's Purses. I came up with this appetizer five years ago when I needed a starter for a Middle Eastern dinner I was hosting. They are a take on the Chaldean meat pie. I made them only once, but five years later my family is still talking about them so last night I thought I would make a batch as a special treat. Let's just say there were a lot of expletives being thrown around, and very loudly I might add from the kitchen as my husband gobbled them up..."holy $@#%... these are so &^%#$%^ good!!!!! Well, what better endorsement is there?

Baharat spice mix is often used in Middle Eastern beef based stews, biryani and kabobs and can be found in Middle Eastern groceries stores, or ordered online. You can also mix your own (see scaled down recipe below from Ma Baseema). Chaldean baharat usually calls for rose petal powder which is very hard to find, but since many recipes call for paprika, I've switched it out. If you have any extra filling left over, you can fry it up with some eggs the next morning. It's incredibly good! The filling can be made ahead of time.

1 pound lean ground beef
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium sized yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 bunch of scallions (about 4 or 5), white and light green parts chopped (discard dark green ends)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried curry powder, medium-heat
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
*1/2 teaspoon baharat (see note below)
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
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1-14 ounce package frozen puff pastry (preferably Dufour), thawed
chives (you will need about 24 to allow for breakage)
1 egg, whisked

Baharat Spice Mix:
3 teaspoons ground allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom ("hale")

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Sauté ground beef in a pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat.
Add onions and scallions and sauté until tender.
Add curry, salt, baharat, freshly ground black pepper and parsley and mix. Turn off heat.
Allow mixture to cool completely (you can refrigerate it for quicker cooling).
Whisk egg in a small bowl (for egg wash).
Roll out pastry dough on floured surface (it you have a small surface to work on, you may want to cut the dough into four squares and then roll out each square separately.
Cut out 3 1/2 to 4" circles with a round cookie cutter (if you've divide the dough into four parts you should get four circles out of each square).
Combine, roll out and cut circles out of the the scraps of dough as well.
Lay 2 tablespoons of filling neatly in the middle each dough circle (piled high, not spread out)

Lift and stretch the sides of the dough up and around the filling (try to keep the edges dry), and pinch the excess dough at the top to seal forming a "beggar's purse".
Gently tie a chive around the top of each purse and lay them on a baking sheet at least 1" apart.
Brush each purse with egg wash.