Vegetarian Curry Puff with Puff Pastry

I'm sure anyone who had been living in Malaysia or Singapore for a while knows this popular snack!  This is probably the fastest and easiest way to make curry puff.  Instead of making the pastry from scratch, just use ready made puff pastry.  Simple and easy with curry potatoes fillings.

I would normally make two dozens of them, put six of them in a plastic bag, and freeze them.  Whenever I feel like having some, I just pop them in the oven, and I have hot yummy home-made curry puff in just 10 or 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

350g potatoes, peeled, cut into 1cm cube 

1 small onion, finely chopped

100ml water

1/2 tbsp curry powder

1/4 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt\

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp cooking oil

275g ready made puff pastry, thawed (25 x 42cm)

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 200 degree C.  Line a baking tray with grease paper.

2.  In a pan over medium heat, add in 1 tablespoon of oil.  Stir fry the onion for about 1 minute or until fragrant.  Add in the potatoes and stir fry for about 1 minute.

3.  Mix the curry powder, chili powder, sugar, salt with water.  Add the mixture in the pan and cook the potatoes in low heat for another 10 or 15 minutes.  It's done when the potatoes are cooked through.

4.  Set the potatoes aside to cool.  Meanwhile cut the puff pastry to 12 rectangles.  Put 1/2 tablespoon to 1 tablespoon of potatoes in the centre of the rectangle.  Fold the pastry into half.  Press the sides of the pastry with a fork (as seen on the photo below). 

4.  Bake the curry puff for 10 - 15 minutes.  You can egg wash the top of the pastry with half of an egg mix with 2 tablespoons of milk.

  

Vegetables Spring Roll

Spring is for spring rolls!  That's how these crispy rolls got its name.  It was originally made from vegetables harvested in early spring or around Chinese New Year.  Meat were added in a later stage.  There are other varieties of spring rolls from Thailand or Vietnam.

Hot, crispy spring rolls serve with sweet chili sauce makes a great appetiser or finger food.  And making them yourself gives you the maximum freshness and flavour!

 Ingredients:

100g carrot, grated or thinly sliced

60g rice noodles, softened by soaking in water

100g red pepper, thinly sliced

200g cabbage, shredded

100g bean sprouts

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp sugar

some white pepper

1 egg, lightly beaten, for brushing

Small size spring roll wrappers (5 x 4.5 inch)

2 tbsp oil

oil for deep frying

Thai sweet chili sauce, to serve

makes about 30 mini spring rolls

Method:

1.  In a pan heat two tablespoon of oil.  Add the carrot, cabbage and cook for two minutes.  Add a little bit of water if necessary.  Then add the red pepper, rice noodles, salt, oyster sauce, sugar and pepper and stir for a minute.  Finally add the bean sprouts, have a quick stir, turn off the heat.  Leave to cool.

2.  Wrapping - Please refer to the steps below:

3.  while wrapping a spring roll, cover the rest of the wrappers with a wet tea towel.

4.  Deep frying - Heat a wok or pot over high heat.  Make sure the oil are enough to cover the spring rolls.  Deep fry the rolls in batches for 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown.  Drain on kitchen paper.

5.  Transfer the spring rolls on to a serving plate, serve immediately with Thai sweet chili sauce.

                                                A hill of wrapped spring rolls

                                        

Fried Wontons / Gebratene Wantans 炸雲吞

            

I like to serve fried wontons as an appetizer.  They're very appetizing especially when they're served with sweet chili sauce.  It's a good Chinese New Year food as the wontons shaped like money bags and represent prosperity.  This dish is attractive and it's good for party finger food as well!

I think fried wontons are popular here, as I can see this in the menu of all the Thai and Chinese restaurants that I'd been to.  Back at home, we normally find them in certain restaurants where dim sum are served.  I always make lots of them and store them in small plastic bags in my freezer for further use.   

Today, I'm sharing with you fried wontons with pork and shrimps.  And here are the ingredients:

-  250g minced pork or chicken
-  12 medium shrimps
-  2 stalks spring onions, finely cut
-  1 tbsp grated  or finely chopped ginger
-  1 tsp sesame oil
-  1/2 tsp salt
-  1 egg, lightly beat, use only 1/4 of it

-  pinch of white pepper
-  1 tsp Kikkoman soy sauce
-  1 tsp corn flour
-  1/2 tsp sugar
-  a bit of water
-  wonton wrappers
-  oil for deep frying 
-  sweet chili sauce to serve
-  makes about 26 wontons

And here's the preparation:

-  first devein the shrimps and then finely chop them.

-  combine the meat, shrimps, spring onion, grated ginger, sesame oil, salt, soya sauce, corn flour, pepper, egg, and sugar together.

-  to wrap the wonton, place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center and fold it in half.  Using finger, tap a bit of water in the middle of the wrapper as on picture one.  Then using your thump, push the right side to the center and do the same for the left.  I then like to give a gentle squeeze to make sure that it's stick properly. 

-  fry the wontons in hot oil for about 2 minutes, or until they turn golden brown.  While frying, stir them to make sure they're fried evenly and watch the heat.   Serve hot with sweet chili sauce or your favourite chili sauce!