Curry Puffs

Yes, I made curry puffs today. And they were good! Very good if I should say so myself. Of all the things I miss from home that I've tried to recreate over here- Char Siew, Hokkien Mee, Beef Rendang- I'm honestly happiest with these curry puffs. They actually tasted really authentic. Granted, I didn't make my own pastry (Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheetS- I owe you so much...), but with that first bite, I genuinely felt a stab of homesickness. I should have been sitting at some coffeeshop sweltering in Singapore's insane heat and humidity and sipping a kopi-O with my curry puff... It was intensely comforting, but also a little sad...

But anyways, back to the curry puffs... They were relatively simple to make actually. The effort is in making the filling coz you want it to be slightly moist, but not wet or you'll get soggy puffs. I like my curry puffs with chicken and a piece of egg, even though the more traditional puffs have only potatoes. I might try sardines the next time- mmmm, yummm... With a thin egg-wash, my curry puffs came out all golden and perfect- flaky on the outside, moist and spicy inside. It was definitely so worth the effort!

So here's the recipe for those of you who want to try them for yourselves, even if you're in Singapore and an Old Chang Kee or a Polar Cafe is just round the corner (unless of course if you live in Clementi, in which case the one in Clementi Central kicks some serious a#$!...).

Filling:
1 piece of skinless, boneless chicken breast, cubed
3 medium potatoes, cubed
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon garam marsala powder
2 tablespoon soy sauce
Sambal Oelek (depending on how spicy you want your filling. I put about a tablespoon or so, conservatively)
1-half cups of water
3 eggs (You want to end up with a-sixth of an egg for each curry puff)
1 egg with a tablespoon of water for the egg-wash

Pastry:
Pastry sheets from the dessert section of the store (there should be 2 in each box). Thaw overnight in the fridge.
(Recipe makes 18 curry puffs)

1) Fry onions till soft and fragrant. Add chicken and stir-fry.
2) As chicken begins to cook, add potatoes.
3) Add the spices, soy sauce and sambal oelek.
4) For the next 20- 25 minutes, periodically add water to the mixture. The potatoes need the moisture to soften but you don't want to add all the water at the same time or you'll get curry stew. As it looks a little dry, add more water and fry.
5) After 25 minutes, you should have a slightly moist filling and the potatoes should be soft. It's important that the filling cannot be too wet.
6) Let the filling cool.
7) Lay out pastry sheet and cut into 9 squares. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center, add a piece of egg and brush edges of squares with egg wash.
8) Fold squares to form triangles. Press edges to seal. Brush the puffs with egg-wash. Repeat with other pastry sheet.
9) Bake at 400F for 20 minutes.
10) Serve warm (this is the hard part- I had to resist the urge to pop it straight into my mouth as it was piping hot. Let's just say I didn't quite succeed...)