Curry Puffs

My not so aesthetic looking curry puffs. ;)

We were told to bring a dish each to class this week. A dish that we are fearful of making for whatever reasons. I volunteered to make curry puffs - a snack that is pretty unique to Malaysia and Singapore. It is something I absolutely love to eat but have failed miserably in my one attempt to replicate it months ago - the pastry had turned out too hard and the fillings were too bland. I believe I had messed up the actual measurement of the ingredients while trying to do all that conversions from grams to pounds to cups. This time I made sure I had them properly measured out (or so I hope!)

Recipe adapted from grouprecipes.com:
Ingredients:
5 tbsp oil
1 medium red onion (chopped finely)
1/2 tsp kurma powder or chicken curry powder
2 tsp meat or chicken curry powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 cup of finely diced chicken meat (breast or thigh) (I skipped this)
3 large potatoes (boiled and diced finely)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp black pepper or white pepper
1/2 salt
PASTRY:
500g (1lb) plain flour (equivalent to 2 cups of 8 oz based on my estimation)
150g (5 oz) margarine or shortening
3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp salt

1. To make pastry, mix flour with margarine, water, salt and knead well.
2. Let it rest for 1/2 hour.
3. While waiting for the dough, heat oil and fr onion gently until golden brown.
4. Add the kurma powder, curry powder, chili, turmeric and fry gantly.
5. Add the chicken, potatoes, sugar, pepper, salt and cook for 5 minutes.
6. Mix well and leave aside to cool.
7. Cut the dough into circles (3 inches) in diameter when it is done.
8. Pre-heat the oven if you decide to bake instead of deep frying at 180c.
9. Fold pastry over to make a half circle and crimp at edges with egg white.
10. Deep fry in oil until golden or bake 15-20 mins at 180c. (I baked at 350 F)
*Brush egg yolk on the puffs if you want to bake it to give it the golden finish.

Verdict: Well, the pastry has a much better texture this time round. The potato filling was a little dry and could do with more spice and salt.
What did the class think? They all liked the pastry. Mix response on the overall taste though since most have never tried curry puffs before. Chef suggested trying waxy potatoes next time (instead of mealy ones) to allow for more moisture retention and adding some chilli oil to up the spice level.
I think I will just wait for my next trip back to Singapore to satisfy my cravings for good! :P