Pages

Friday, August 18, 2006

Spiral Curry Puffs

These curry puffs are party favorite for the guests as well as for me because i can make them ahead of time and freeze them. The pastry in this recipe is crispy even when puffs are cold.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Ingredients:

Outer layer:

400 g flour
50 g margarine
1/3 tsp salt
1/2 egg
170 ml water

Inner Layer:

120 g flour
60 g lard/shortening

Filling:

150 g chicken meat
150 g onions
500 g potatoes
50 g shallots
2 tbsp oil
2 1/2 tbsp curry powder
1 1/2 tbsp freshly ground chilly (paste)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
3/4 cup coconut milk


Method:

For Wrapping:

Outer layer:

1. Boil margarine, water and salt. Pour into the flour. Add in egg. Knead well. Let dough rest for a while. Divide into 8 portions.

Inner layer:

2. Mix flour and lard/shortening together. Knead well and divide into 8 portions.

3. Wrap inner layer with outer layer. Flatten it and then roll it up like a swiss roll. Repeat twice and then divide into 2 portions.

4. With cut side on the table, roll dough into a circle and fill with a spoonful of curry filling. Wet the outer rim of circle and fold into half, seal the edges.

5. Puffs can be left to freeze and packed in ziploc bag when frozen until needed.

6. To fry frozen curry puffs, start them in cold oil. Remove several ladles of hot oil as the puffs are slightly brown, turn heat on to the highest and fry puffs until brown. This way will ensure that the puffs will not be soggy.

7. To fry the second batch, add in the slightly cool oil and put in the frozen puffs, frying the same way as no.6.

8. Put fried puffs in 250f oven to keep warm.

For the filling:

Cube the chicken. potatoes and onions

slice shallors.

Boil the potaoes till soft.

Heat oil ,sweat the shallots and add in ground chilly(paste). Fry until fragrant then add curry powder.

Add in the cubed chicken, then onions. When chicken is no more pink add in coconut milk.

Simmer until filling thickens, season with salt and sugar.

Leave to cool.



52 comments:

  1. your spirals are so pretty and apparent! When I tried making mine, the spirals were not as visible(I didn't even bother posting pics because they were so ugly!) Maybe because I didn't deep fry them and baked them instead? Will try your version sometimes! Why did you first boil the fat in the outer layer?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Lily,

    These puffs were DELICIOUS!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Lily, tks for sharing this recipe. I just love curry puffs. Can I ask whether the potatoes will go mushy if you freeze the curry puff? Tks_K

    ReplyDelete
  4. k

    the potatoes will not be mushy if the puffs are frozen and fried in the frozen state but it the filling is frozen, then thaw for wrapping, then the potatoes will be mushy. Think of french fries, they are frozen too before frying.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lily,
    I like this, don't have time to try it now, when I come home again I'll definitely want to try it. I'll be leaving again in 3 days.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Lily,

    This is a creative twist to the regular curry puffs! One question though - where is the instruction for cooking the filling?

    ReplyDelete
  7. dana

    thanks for pointing out the missed. will edit asap

    ReplyDelete
  8. david

    i must apologise for not giving you the instructions in time. I don't know what happened i missed your comment.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi lily,

    Can you tell me whether I can bake instead of deep fry these spiral curry puffs. Will it stay crispy if I baked them ? Oh yes, can you tell me the steps/directions in making the spirals effect ? Tks.

    BTW, I tried your recipe for the zebra cake, it is very nice but the texture is a bit dry..it is b'cos the cake is overbaked? Also, why do the top of cake cracked a bit ? Overbaked??

    I used a kind of space-oven from Cadware, with the hot air coming the top only.

    Rgs, sue

    ReplyDelete
  10. sue

    i have not tried baking this recipe but you can give it a try, it might be harder.

    wow, you got a space-oven - i must check it out, since the air is from the top, it should be sort of like the turbo.

    For baking in these convection, you would need to add a little more liquid to the cake mixture and it cooks 30 % faster, so check for doneness 10 minutes before the recommended time.

    to roll the pastry - refer to http://jodelibakery.netfirms.com/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks lily for your prompt reply and your link to "how" to do the spiral curry puffs.

    Will try to bake another cake soon following your suggestion.

    Rgs, sue

    ReplyDelete
  12. lily,
    when your boil the margarine, water and salt, do you let it to cool down before adding to the flour or do straight away add in?

    ling2

    ReplyDelete
  13. ling2

    don't have to cool it, just add in to the flour

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Lily,
    I'm May from Malaysia but am currently living in the UK and I just miss the curry puffs in Malaysia so much.I'm taking my materinity leave at the moment and I am adicted to all the recipes that I really really miss so much. I have tryed out the spiral curry puffs from your blog but I can't get the pastry right,I don't know whether is the flour(all purpose flour) or rolling goes wrong. Could you give me more specific directions,better with pictures.
    can you pls send to my e-mail plsssss......your filling was great love it anything else you would like to add to remind me of home please do....
    maymassey@yahoo.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Lily,

    I made some and kept part of it in the freezer. But when I fried it following your instructions, my puffs are golden brown but the inside is always still cold. What can I do? Can I leave it out a while to defrost first? Would that affect the texture?

    Thanks!

    Sara

    ReplyDelete
  16. anonymous

    if you started the frozen puffs in cold oil, the filling should be warm enough. perhaps you too them out earlier as it has turned brown. Use more oil for frying.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi Lily

    Thanks for sharing your curry puff recipe. I baked the curry puff and they are delicious.
    Julia

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Lily,
    It is amazing to read thru all your recipe.
    For the curry puff inner layer, I don't have lard/shortening.. can I use the butter ?

    YY

    ReplyDelete
  19. YY

    yes you can but the mixed dough has to left in the fridge until the dough is really cold.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Lily,
    I made some curry puff today using your pastry recipe (filling of my own).Overall it turned out pretty good even though my spirals weren't as visible as yours. I did have problems getting the inner layer to bind, so added a tbspn water & seemed to do the trick. Should the dough be a certain texture for the spirals to be more visible? Look forward to trying your other recipes. Thanx.......nanc

    ReplyDelete
  21. nanc

    you should have added more fat in the inner dough and not water.

    the layers come to nicely if the rolling is done well

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi Lily, I followed the recipe, and everything turned out well until when I fried it and all the puffs started to split open. I tried starting with low fire and no fire, I also pinched the edges really tight. I changed the oil twice, still the same. Wonder what's wrong. Any suggestions? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  23. wnag-lee

    did you fry them immediately you made them, then the oil has to be very hot. Do not disturb the puffs until a few minutes until it is light brown, then turn the puffs for even frying.

    if the puffs have been frozen, then start frying on cold oil

    ReplyDelete
  24. Yes, I fried them after wrapping them immediately. Didn't touch them for awhile, and when I wanted to turn them, I saw that they were open at the seams. I only sealed them with water, or should I use egg? Is the skin too thick or too thin? I rolled them out thin, and tried them not so thin, and still they burst in hot oil.

    ReplyDelete
  25. wang-lee

    if you have crimped or pinched the edges, it should not open. try and roll the circle with alittle pressure so as to adhered the spiral.

    ReplyDelete
  26. ok I'll try again tomorrow. Perhaps the pastry was a little dry also. I didn't cover it when I left it to rest. But even though it did burst, the spirals turned out nicely. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  27. I used to make spiral curry puffs with shortening and find it difficult to work with during winter (hard to rub it in). Can I substitute with margarine (Daisy)?

    Secondly, I saw lard in the supermarket, is it better to use shortening or lard? Which one make a nicer and crispy curry puffs.

    ReplyDelete
  28. anonymous

    you can sub shortening with margarine.

    if you use lard it will be more flavorful. both will be just as crispy. you would have to fry the puffs thoroughly then it will be crispy. Don't fry with too high heat as it get brown fast and then the pastry is not fried through.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hi Lily,
    I had been following your blog for sometime but seldom speak up. hehe..

    I follow your recipe through and the curry puff was brilliant! The spiral turns out really pretty and nice.

    However, I was wondering, I find mine was a bit dry. What is the problem your reckon??

    Thanks
    regards
    eve

    ReplyDelete
  30. eve

    you are supposed to fry the puffs until very crispy. roll the pastry thinner cos thicker pastry is difficult to fry through

    ReplyDelete
  31. hi lily,
    i try your recipe and the spiral turns very nice but i find out that my pastry is not crispy and it seems like it's not well-fried. only brown in the outside. do you think its my frying problem or my dough problem?

    ReplyDelete
  32. cintami,

    you have answered your own question = the dough is not well fried. if the dough is thicker, then it takes longer to fry through. Do not fry with very very high heat, if so, the outside will be burnt before the inside is fried through.

    suggest, roll dough thinner and make bigger puffs.

    ReplyDelete
  33. hi lily,
    thanks for your respons. i try again this morning bcause i m really crazy about curry puff and i cannot find it here(indonesia):P. so, when i try to make it thinner, the spiral broke. and it happens to me before that when i fry it the spiral open until all the fillings come out. what do you think?? many thanksss...

    ReplyDelete
  34. cintami

    you must use slight pressure when rolling the final dough before filling, then the spirals will adhered together but if you let the dough out without covering, it dries out and the spiral will not stick. Or you could have used too much flour for dusting, that causing the spirals not sticking.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Hi Lily,

    I plan to make this for a party. How many puffs does this recipe yield?

    ReplyDelete
  36. Hi Aunt Lily,

    Tried this and my mom commented that this is the best curry puff she ever tasted. However, I substituted all the shortening & margarine with butter since I do not take trans fat. Thanks for this fantastic recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  37. flo

    you could use Crisco - there is no trans fat

    ReplyDelete
  38. Hi Lily,
    I have been looking for a crust that looks like this for a similar chicken mini-pies we had in the Philipppines, we called empanada. I have a question, though, about 1/2 egg. Does that mean I beat one egg and use half of it? I am in the US now and I use mainly cups and teaspoons/tbsp to measure. I can use the kitchen scake to measure these ingredients, but could you help me with the conversion to English system instead of your metric system? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  39. manang

    when i bake i like to weigh my ingredients and even when i find a recipes in pounds and ozs, i would convert to metric cos i find that i can measure to the exact grams. There are many weight conversion tables in the internet - just google for one.

    if you have difficulty, get back to me and i will help.

    yes, for the egg question, beat up 1 whole egg and use half unless you make double the recipe, then use the whole egg

    good luck

    ReplyDelete
  40. Hi Lily,
    thanks for your reply.
    I will probably just make two batches to use up 1 whole egg.
    I printed the recipe and am soooo excited to try this!

    ReplyDelete
  41. Hi Lily,
    I tried your recipe and my dough came perfect; the spirals do appear. My problem is, I was trying to cook right after filling, so mine were not frozen. I tried to deep fry. The outside were nicely browned enough (started from medium heat then got it on high before removing them), but the inner layers were not yet done. I tried to re-fry on medium heat only, still not cooked inside while outside is dark brown already. Any tips on how to do this from un-frozen state? BTW, my filling has mostly meat.
    I will try cooking from the frozen, since my first batch had uncooked deeper dough layers.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Hi lily

    I plan to try your recipe out however I would like to know what sort of curry powder did you use in your recipe?

    Thanks,

    ReplyDelete
  43. anonymous

    i like to use curry powder from malaysia like baba's or sakthy

    ReplyDelete
  44. anonymous

    i like to use curry powder from malaysia like baba's or sakthy

    ReplyDelete
  45. Hi Lily,

    I like the curry puff, but I am having a problem here. When I deep fried the frozen puff, the skin are cracking either 0n the bottom part or back side of the puff.

    Do you know why?

    ReplyDelete
  46. chris

    since it has been frozen, when frying, i hope you start with cold oil and don't move them too much. The spiral dough has a considerable amount of fat and is very delicate, even when fried immediately making, will fall apart too if the spiral forming is out of whack.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Thank you for your quick reply. But sometimes when I freeze those puff, I have more crack too. Does it has something to do with the temperature when I keep the puffs?

    ReplyDelete
  48. chris

    when you say cracks, do you mean, the spirals are separated or the dough have cracks all over?

    ReplyDelete
  49. Yea,
    the pastry was opened, and frying the filling so the inside taste bitter.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Hi Lily,
    will the pastry more resilient when I mixed with bread and multi-purpose flour?

    What's the ratio which you suggested between the low and high protein?

    Regards,
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  51. chris

    i am sorry that you still did not get to solve the splits when frying. i can only guess that you are not rolling the pastry well, try using more pressure when rolling, the spiral will form when frying cos of the oil dough.

    pastries made with high gluten will make pastries tough, that is why when using all purpose flour, caution is taken not to over work the dough so that gluten will not form and cause the pastry to be tough.

    good luck

    ReplyDelete