Malaysian Recipes

Malaysian Curry Puff

Curry puff (Malay: Karipap), is a Malaysian, Singaporean, and Thai snack. It is a small pie consisting of specialised curry with chicken and potatoes in a deep-fried or baked pastry shell, and it looks like the Portuguese stuffed bread called Empanada. The curry is quite thick to prevent it from oozing out of the snack.

A common snack in the region, the curry puff is one of several "puff" type pastries with different fillings, though now it is by far the most common. Other common varieties include sardines and onions or sweet fillings such as yam.

Though differing in the type of pastry used, the shape and structure of the curry puff may suggest that it has its origins in the Cornish pasty.

Curry Puffs are a very popular snack item in Indian Bakeries. Several variations of it are available based on the content of the puff, like :

Egg puff
Potato puff
chicken puff
veggie puff
Paneer puff.

Some varieties of the Indian samosa known as Kachori are very similar to curry puffs.

Ingredients:

Filling:

5 tablespoons oil
1 medium red onion (finely chopped)
1/2 teaspoon kurma powder or chicken curry powder
2 teaspoons meat or chicken curry powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 cup of finely diced chicken breast meat
2 large potatoes (boiled and finely diced)
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt



Pastry:

1 lb plain flour
5 oz margarine or shortening
3/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Method:

Make the filling first. Heat oil and fry onion gently until golden brown. Add the kurma powder, curry powder, chili, turmeric and fry gently. Add the chicken, potatoes, sugar, pepper, salt and cook for 5 minutes. Mix well and leave aside to cool.

To make pastry, mix flour with margarine, water, salt, and knead well. Let it rest for 1/2 hour. Cut the dough into circles (3 in) in diameter. Fold pastry over to make a half circle and crimp at edges. Deep fry in hot oil until golden. Serve hot.