Tuesday 11 June 2013

Cooking: Home-made Indian Curry Puff feat. the Hong Kong Modification!

Golden yummy!
Image from Locky's English Playground
Hi there! Yet another scrumptious recipe today and this time it is one of my wife's favourite dish -- the Indian curry puff.

The problem is, she doesn't want to go out for the food and those actual Indian version is way too spicy, which means I will have to use my intelligence and skills to produce a more mild Hong Kong style version.

Ground tumeric and Curry Sauce (AMOY)
Image from Locky's English Playground

Here's what you need:
  • A packet of spring roll pastry
  • 2 large potatoes
  • Ground turmeric
  • Curry paste
  • A tab of butter
  • An egg
  • Pepper
  • Salt



One packet of spring roll pastry with 2 potatoes
Image from Locky's English Playground
First, leave the spring roll pastry for defrosting then wash the potatoes and peel them.

Boil until potatoes get soft
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Then cut them into smaller chunks and boil them for about 30 minutes until they are soft. Use a fork to poke the potatoes to test if they are cooked.

Mash it with a fork
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Mash them the potatoes using a fork. Bear in mind, the mashed potato need not be too powdery, leave some small pieces to ensure some sort of chunky textures.

A tab of butter
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For each potato, add a tab of butter to add smoothness and taste to the mixture.

Ground tumeric, salt, pepper added
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Sprinkle ground turmeric to add colour to the mashed potatoes. Do pay attention to the possible overly gingery taste if you put too much. Always test the taste of the mash potatoes after each mix.

Two tablespoon of curry sauce for two large potatos
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For each potato, add a teaspoon of curry sauce. I used AMOY because it was left over from the Hong Kong curry fishball and turnip dish but you can add any other ones. The good thing about this AMOY curry sauce is that it is not too hot but tastes rich enough for cooking most of the Hong Kong local curry dishes.

Mixed well
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Add a little salt and pepper then mix well. Don't forget to taste the mashed potatoes!!!

Peel spring roll sheets
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Peel the spring roll sheets and lay them on a slightly moist surface to ensure they don't dry up too quickly.

Curry puff in any shapes
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Put  the mashed potatoes onto the sheets and roll them up to any shapes you like.

Make two holes on the eggshell
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For the sealing, get a egg, poke two holes at the ends so that the egg white can be separated from the egg yolk.

extracting the egg white
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Take egg white and use it as the "glue" that seals the openings of your curry puff. Do not need to add water or anything else. The spring roll pastry should stick well with just the egg white.

Add a little oil to pan-fry
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Add a small amount of oil and fry the curry puffs using small flame in a pan or a wok until golden brown.
Flat ones are more crispy
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Flat and pan-fried ones are more crispy!!!

Round ones are more chewy
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You may also try baking them in an oven if you dislike oily food. Tubular ones that looks like traditional Chinese spring rolls are more chewy.

Golden yummy!
Image from Locky's English Playground
But what is inside remains the best of all!

Try it out tomorrow on the Dragonboat Festival Day, it's a public holiday in Hong Kong!



Vocabulary:
chunk -- (n)[C] roughly cut piece:
chunky -- (adj) describes clothes that are thick and heavy, or jewellery made of large pieces:
mash -- (vb)[T] to crush food, usually after cooking it, so that it forms a soft mass:
sprinkle -- (vb)[T] tdrop a few pieces or drops of something over a surface:
gingery -- (adj) like ginger
tubular -- (adj) made in or having the shape of a tube:


Resources:

Cooking: Hong Kong Curry Fishballs and Turnip @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2013/04/cooking-chinese-curry-fishballs-and.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/chunk?q=chunk+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/chunky?q=chunky
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/mash_1?q=mash
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sprinkle_1?q=sprinkle
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gingery
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/tubular?q=tubular