Easy-breezy hassle-free Curry Puffs

After getting a stamp of approval from my three guys for steaming my very first foolproof baos / buns – with success – there was no stopping me.  I steamed some more buns last weekend!

Did I not impart in my endnote, here, that I was a happy BUN-ny? 😀

I made the chicken-filled buns – again – last weekend on the request of my sons.  I thought the equation of steaming more buns meant requiring the consumption of a gigantic portion of chicken meat, hence, I bought a whole rotisserie chicken (kip aan’t spit).  Duh!

When I saw how much meat I could fork out from the bird, well, maybe a bit too much for my chicken-filled paos, I had to put Plan B in action. Waste not, want not 😀

I knew immediately what I wanted to make from the balance of the chicken mixture. Yep, curry puffs!!  This is one snack that brings me down memory lane.  I LURVE curry puffs 😀

Short cut to success

Curry Puff = Curry + Puff

Didn’t I say it’s easy peasy (breezy)?

Okay, I’m cheating here, because I bought two store bought puff pastries, one called ‘bladerdeeg met boter’ (puff pastry with butter) and the other, simply, ‘bladerdeeg’ (puff pastry).  By the way, isn’t butter one of the key ingredients in making puff pastries?  Erm…double dose of Duh’s… LOL!

I bought two different types of puff pastries because I was not sure which of the two puff pastries would engage well with my curry puff recipe.  If one fails, I would not be left in the lurch.

Now, the curry – I used Yeo’s Malaysian Curry Powder. Oh by the way, this was a gift from Chris – all the way from Ohio, USA!   Thank you, my friend.  The crinkled look on the packet means that the curry has not been deserted.  It was used to the fullest 😀

Ingredients:-

2 packets store bought puff pastries (makes 20 curry puffs)

Curry powder, to taste – honestly speaking, I used quite a lot, as I love curries 😛

I will omit the measurements in this post because it doesn’t make sense as the curry chicken filling was the leftover of the chicken-mix for my steamed buns. Please hop over here where the more precise ingredients and method can be found prior to adding the curry powder.  I added dried shiitake mushrooms this time.

Rotisserie chicken (pre-grilled/ pre-roasted/ pre-baked chicken meat or any of your favourite cooked meat!) – Believe you me; pre-cooked meat is a savior to this dish as it cuts a chunk of your cooking time. This statement concurs the ‘hassle-free’ part 😉

Carrot, grated

Spring Onion – cut in small rings

Ginger (I used one whole young ginger, grated)

Garlic, minced with some coarse sea salt

Roots of fresh coriander, minced

Dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes until plumped up

Sesame Oil

Soy sauce (I used Kikkoman soy sauce)

Shaohsing wine (optional – this was used for the steamed buns. Please omit, if you must)

Oyster sauce

White pepper (I added freshly milled black peper)

Sugar – taste for balance

Water and cornflour to thicken the sauce

Vegetable Oil

1egg, beaten – brushed on coating  

Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

Once the chicken mixture is combined, add the curry powder. Stir well; making sure that the chicken mixture is coated completely with the curry powder. Refrigerate until you are ready to handle the puff pastries.

Scoop 1 tea-spoonful of the curry chicken filling onto each dough circle. I used a drinking glass of 8 cm in diameter to mould the circles from the puff pastry.

Fold the chicken-filled pastry in half moon and start crimping or pleating the crust. I used the fork crust crimp method. Easy peasy! No hassle.

Finally, bake the curry puffs for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  My kitchen smelled exquisite that Sunday afternoon 😉

By the way, the rope crust crimp method would be really stylish and elegant looking. I tried doing that but most did not turn out with that rope crust crimped effect at all.  I did, however, manage to crimp one which turned out to be one big ugly blob!  I just gave up *sigh*

This was one monster curry puff! My sons said this looked like a dead chicken. LOL!

‘Dead chicken’ aside, I did pull some good lookers 😉

Et voilà!

My easy peasy hassle-free curry puffs for any busy full-time working or stay-at-home Mums. Yummilicious!

Curry puffs made with puff pastry with butter

The fork crust crimped curry puffs were made with the ‘normal’ puff pastry

Closed up of the freshly baked curry puffs 😀

My Monday morning breakfast. YUMMY!

By the way, do you remember these?

That’s the cross-section of the once-upon-a-time ugly blob!  As a saying goes, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”…

I rest my case  😉 

I am submitting this entry to the Little Thumbs Up event with the theme ,”CURRY”, hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders, organized by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of my little favourite D.I.Y. 

As well as to the September 2013 Cooking With Herbs Blog Challenge hosted by Lavender and Lovage

Cheers and carry on curry-ing!