Recipe: Curry Puff

 

Crispy on the outside with savoury filling inside, this ‘kuih’ is very popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. The savoury fillings are usually made of potato curry but there is also a wide variety of fillings available such as chicken curry, chicken black pepper, sardines, tuna, or even beef rendang.

The most famous curry puffs are Spiral Curry Puffs due to its beautiful layered pastry. It is a little tedious with multiple steps to create a crispy outer layer skin of Spiral Curry Puffs, but it is worth it as it is crispier and tastier than the normal curry puffs. Because of their popularity, curry puffs are easily available at any food stalls in Malaysia from morning to evening. There are also frozen curry puffs that are sold in supermarkets and has been exported to other countries.

Ingredients (about 20 curry puffs):

Dough

• 400 g of wheat flour
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 ½ tsps baking powder
• ½ cup butter
• 8 tbs of water

*There are frozen and ready-made pastry doughs available in most supermarkets if you do not want to make your own dough.

Filling 

• 1 large onion (diced)
• 5 garlic cloves (finely minced)
• 3 tbsp of cooking oil
• 5 tbsp of meat curry powder
• 300 g potatoes (diced small)
• 200 g chicken (diced small)
• 1 cup of water
• 2 curry leaf stalks (optional)
• Salt

Directions:

1. To make the dough, mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Knead the flour mixture until the dough is smooth. Test the dough by flattening a small piece and if the dough breaks, add cold water and continue kneading. Divide the dough equally into balls of 30g each and put them in the refrigerator for a while.
2. Heat up cooking oil in a pan, stir-fry onions and minced garlic until fragrant. Then, add curry leaves and curry powder.
3. Next, add potatoes, chicken, and water. Keep it simmering at low heat until they have softened. Season it with salt accordingly. There should be no or little gravy as it is used as fillings. Let it cool at the side.
4. Next step is to insert the fillings into the dough. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and flatten it using rolling pin until it is about 0.2cm thick. Put 1 tablespoon of filling in the middle of the flattened dough.
5. Then, fold the sides together to create a semi-circle and seal the edges tightly so they would not break apart when fried. To create a distinctive edge of curry puff, use the pinch and fold technique. (You may refer to the video online to learn this technique)
6. Last part is to fry the curry puffs. Heat about 3-4 cups of oil on medium heat in a wok. Gently fry the curry puffs for about 7 to 8 minutes or until it becomes golden brown. Turn the curry puffs occasionally while frying so that it cooks evenly. Serve them hot with a cup of tea.