Curry Puffs

As I peered into the fridge trying to compute what my hungover self could eat to make it all go away, I spied the holy grail of cures for me. Something made by my mother (always helps), and also just as crucially, involving pastry, meat and a face punch of flavour: she had left a container of golden curry puffs.

I tend to find hangover cures go hand in hand with comfort nostalgia foods and growing up in a Singaporean family, there was no shortage of these flaky, aromatic little triangles made at any occasion. They’re simple, scaleable (tiny for parties as canapés, or pastie sized for hand held lunches) and comforting.

Ingredients:

1 large brown onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tablespoons curry powder
300g pork mince
2 large Dutch cream potatoes, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
1 small sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
1 carrot, peeled and grated
½ cup frozen peas
½ cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon raw sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 box of good quality short crust pastry
1 egg, beaten
A dash of milk

Method:

In a heavy based pan on a medium heat, add some vegetable oil and sauté the onions, garlic for 2-3 minutes or until they have softened. Add the curry powder and stir until the mixture becomes fragrant.

Add the mince and stir fry until cooked through before adding the potatoes, sweet potato and carrots. Pour in the stock and simmer the mixture until the vegetables are tender. Season the filling to taste with the sugar, salt and pepper and then stir through the frozen peas and set aside to cool completely.

Preheat an oven to 180 degrees centigrade and remove the pastry from the freezer. When just pliable enough to handle, cut it into squares of your chosen size and fill them with the cooled mixture.

Fold the pastry into triangles and seal the edges with a fork. Mix together the milk and beaten egg in a small bowl and brush the mixture on the folded pastries and bake them for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

Words: Melissa Leong, www.fooderati.com.