Curry Puffs

A. Flaky pastry
1. Water pastry
350 g of plain flour
100 g of Trex or pastry margarine*
½ tsp of salt
About ½ cup of cold water
2. Fat paste pastry
280g of plain flour
180 g of Trex or pastry margarine
½ tsp of salt
Method:
- for the water pastry, rub fat into flour till well mix, add salt. Mix water into the crumbs bit at a time till the pastry bind and no more crumbs in the bowl and a soft dough formed. No need to knead I prefer to make this by hand, more control to the texture of dough. Amount of water is a guideline, different flour absorb different amount of water
- to make the fat paste, rub fat and salt into flour and at the same time squeeze the fat crumbs till they bind to a greasy dough
- Leave both pastry to rest for about 20 – 30 minutes.
- After resting give the water pastry a quick knead till the dough is smooth.
* I preferred to use a bland vegetable fat for flaky pasty. I used to use Crisco a vegetable shortening from USA, but due to hydrogenated fat and unavailability, I find Trex (tasteless and no hydrogenated fat) is as good. You can use lard if you wish but to me making a malay snack with lard just doesn’t feel right with me. Butter is ok but I find the taste a bit strong for this type of S E asian pasties.
** You can use the same flaky pastry for any filling. Great for Chinese char siu flaky triangle you find in dim sum restaurant.

B. Filling
4 – 5 potatoes about 600g
300g of minced beef
3 - 4 tbsp of curry powder (homemade mix or shop bought)
1 – 5 tsp of chilli powder (qty depends on how hot you like and the strength of the chilli)
1 – 1 ½ tsp of salt
2 onion (tennis ball size) about 350g
1 tbsp of tomato paste
Cooking oil
Method:
- Cut potatoes into fine dices
- Chopped onion
- Fry onion with few tbsp of oil for few minutes add curry powder, chilli powder and tomato puree, fry till fragrant then add meat and brown for few minutes.
- Add potato dices and stir, sprinkle with water to keep the mix moist and help the potatoes to cook. Cook for about 10 minutes till potatoes are cooked.
To make the puffs: (see slide show)
1. Divide both pieces of dough into two.
2. Roll out one half of the water pastry
3. Take half of the greasy dough and cut into pieces and dotted all over the rolled out water dough.
4. Spread the grease dough with spatula till even and smooth. If you are struggling, wet the spatula with water will help spreading.
5. Roll into a log
6. Roll and stretch to extend the log to about few inches longer.
7. Cut into half. Roll and stretch one half (aim for around 3 cm diameter) then cut into about 12 pieces. Repeat with the other half piece.
8. Repeat steps 3 – 7. You now have about 48 - 50 pieces of dough, cover to prevent drying.
9. Take a piece of dough, with the cut size on the side, press down with fingers then roll to an oval disc.
10. Fill the disc with about 1 tbsp of filling. Slightly dampen the edge (half the disc) with water. Fold the pastry over to form a half moon shape. Press the open edge together then crimp.
11. Continue making the puffs till finish. This will take sometime. Lay each puff on non stick baking tray. If using baking tray without non stick, line tray with parchment paper then the puffs.
12 Brush each puff with beaten egg.
13 Bake at about 190 – 200 deg C (fan oven) for about 20 - 25 minutes or till golden brown.