Purple Yam Cashew Flatbread (Piaya)

Piaya, a Filipino flatbread originating from the province of Negros.  It is a unleavened flatbread stuffed with muscovado sugar, flattened and sprinkled with sesame seeds.  I’m not a fan of this Filipino pasalubong as the bread itself is bland but the filling is too sweet.  However, when I tried this recipe, I totally fell in love with it and I did it twice in two consecutive days.

The common piaya though is bland but on a good side it’s flacky.  My recipe uses cold butter instead of maybe the cheaper lard which I think is used in the common piaya recipe.  Well, as they say, fat is equals to flavor.  Also, instead of using the usual muscovado filling, I used ube halaya or jam, which is leftover my buchi recipe.  Then, I remembered my mom brought this bag of cashew nuts last Christmas and thought to myself that this would give another flavor and texture to my piaya.  The result is a nice creamy and flavorful filling with the added crunch from the toasted cashew nuts and a buttery flacky flatbread.

I simply cut in the cold butter into my flour and added some water and let the dough rest for 30 minutes while preparing for the piaya dough.  For the piaya dough, I scooped some ube jam and added roasted cashew nuts and some sugar and mix them together.  I divided the dough into 18 part and filled it with the filling, rolled it on sesame seeds and flatten it into 4-inch wide.  I heat up a non-stick pan and cook the piaya for five minutes on each side.  I paired it with a cup of coffee and smile.  Now this piaya is way better than the commercially available piaya.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups + 2 Tablespoons                              Flour
10 Tablespoons                                               Cold Salted Butter
10 Tablespoons                                               Water
1/4 cup                                                           Ube Jam
1/4 cup                                                           Toasted Cashew Nuts, roughly chopped
2 Tablespoons                                                 Muscovado Sugar
1/2 cup                                                           Sesame Seeds
extra flour for dusting

Procedures

Combine flour and butter.  Cut in the butter using the back of a fork or with a pastry cutter.  Add the water two tablespoons at a time and mix until you form a dough.  Gently knead until the mixture comes together.  Wrap with a plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

In a bowl, mix together the ube jam, cashew nuts and sugar.

Roll the dough on a flat surface dusted with flour.  Divide the dough into 18 parts.  Flatten the dough into 3-inch wide.  Scoop out 1/2 teaspoon of the filling and place on the center of the flattened dough.  Enclosed the filling with the dough and roll in to a ball.  Roll the dough on the sesame seeds.  Flatten to 4-inch wide, the thinner the better.

Heat a non-stick pan to low heat.  Cook the piaya 4 to 5 minutes on each side.