Merdeka Weekend Baking - Spiral Curry Puff a.k.a Karipap

On the second day of the long Merdeka weekend, I made chicken curry puff. This curry puff is no ordinary curry puff because it has a flakier and crispier pastry than the normal curry puff. If you love Homi curry puff then you'll love this. It's like homemade Homi curry puff, healthier and less oily. Mind you, these are good enough reasons to make your own curry puffs and your heart will thank you for it!

I found this recipe from a Nyonya kuih cookbook by Ricky Ng but I've altered it here and there. I didn't know spiral curry puff is Peranakan cuisine. Any idea, anyone?

To get the spiral, flaky pastry effect, you'll need to make two types of dough - water dough and oil dough. Don't be deterred, making the dough is simple, the hard part is pleating the curry puffs, but don't worry either because that can be improved after some practice. Alternatively, you could use the dumpling mould. My dumpling mould is kind of small so I skipped that.

Ingredients:
Filling
450g potato
1 medium onion, diced
3 sprigs curry leaves
200g chicken thighs/drumstick, diced
2 boiled eggs, cut into 1/8 wedges

seasoning
1/2 tbsp curry powder
1/2 star anise
5 cloves
1 cinnamon stick (2 inch)

1 tsp salt
1 tsp chicken powder

1/2 tsp sugar

Pastry
Water Dough

200g AP flour
50g rice flour
50g tapioca flour/ corn flour
50ml water (Add slowly to form dough)
1/2 tsp salt
20g caster sugar
 
Oil Dough
100g AP flour
50g butter
50g cooking oil

Method:

Filing
Peel potato boil until soft then dice.

Heat oil in wok, saute onions and curry leaves until fragrant then add chicken. Add in the seasonings. When the chicken is almost cooked add potato and mix well. Add some water and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Dish out and let it cool before using.

Pastry
Water Dough
Mix all ingredients for water dough together and form into a dough.

Oil Dough
Same for oil dough.
Here's a step-by-step guide on folding and rolling the pastry:-

Place oil dough in the water dough

Wrap oil dough in the water dough and flatten with a rolling pin. Repeat 3 times. You will start to see dough "flaking" already.

Roll up dough and refrigerate for an hour. Remove dough and slice as shown above. Don't slice the dough too thin like I did otherwise you'll end up getting small curry puff. If the dough is too small you'll struggle to wrap the egg in.

Flatten each small round and wrap with curry filling and egg. Use some water and pinch to seal the edges. Pleat edges. This is no easy feat but you can learn by watching the video here. If they don't turn out pretty don't be discouraged, remember practice makes perfect!

Once all the small doughs are filled, heat oil in wok and deep fry until golden brown. Drain excess oil and place on kitchen towel.

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Mine didn't turn out pretty looking but my family didn't mind one bit since they were delish!

The pastry was crispy and tender. The filling was spicy and flavourful. 9 out of 10 on my "yum yum scale". I would definitely be making these again.

Smart eating is being able to enjoy yummy food like this minus the guilt.

Happy trying out! xx