How to Make Curry Puffs: Deep-Fried Pastries With Curried Meat and Potatoes

These curry puffs make an amazing snack!

What Are Curry Puffs?

Curry puffs are popular snacks in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore; they are one of the delicious snacks you really have to try if you happen to be visiting these countries. Similar to the empanada that originated from Portugal, the Asian curry puff has fillings made up of meat and potatoes wrapped in a pastry shell. These snacks have exotic curry flavours in them; otherwise, they will not be called curry potato puffs. There are many recipes for preparing the fillings for the deep-fried pastry puffs but the most common ones that are more popular among the local people are usually made up of chicken, beef, tuna, or just plain vegetarian. In Singapore, there are stalls that have come up with curry puffs with different local flavours like durian, banana, chilly crab, and red bean paste.

If you have tasted curry puffs before, it’s likely that you are a fan of these pastry snacks. If you’re like me, you crave them occasionally. In order to satisfy my cravings, I have learned to make them over the years. It is very easy to make the curry puffs and all the ingredients are easily available from our stores. One great thing about the pastry is that there is no need to proof or knead to perfection unlike what some pastry recipes require. All you need to do is use a food processor to make the dough. If you do not have a food processor, you can mix the ingredients manually with no fuss.

Here’s how you can make delicious deep-fried pastry puffs by following my easy recipes. The recipe for the pastry can be used for all the different curry puff fillings mentioned below.

Pastry ready to be filled with meat and potatoes.
Wrapped curry puff pastries ready for frying.

Pastry Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1½ cup plain flour
  • 5 tablespoons margarine or shortening
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¾ cup water
  • ½ teaspoon of salt

How to Make the Pastry

To make the pastry, mix the flour with margarine/shortening, salt and baking powder in a food processor until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add in water and mix into a dough. Let the dough rest for half an hour.

Roll the dough into a long piece and cut into ten small portions to make the pastry for each curry puff. Roll each portion into a thin round piece about 10cm wide. The round pastry is ready for wrapping the curry puff filling.

Wrap the Filling in the Pastry

Put the filling in the centre of the round pastry you have made, fold the pastry in half, and seal the edges by pressing and folding them with your fingers.

Heat up some vegetable oil in a deep pan or pot for deep frying.

Deep fry the curry puffs until they turn golden brown in colour.

Deep fried curry puffs

Chicken Curry Puff Recipe

Filling:

  • 5 tablespoons oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder
  • 1 cup of diced chicken meat
  • 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Heat oil and fry the chopped onions until golden brown. Add in curry powder and sauté until fragrant. Add the chicken, potatoes, and 1 cup of water. Cook until the potatoes are tender. Add pepper, salt, and sugar, and cook until the filling is dry. Set aside to cool while you prepare the pastry.

Vegetarian filling for curry puffs

Vegetarian Curry Puff Recipe

Filling:

  • 5 tablespoons oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder
  • 3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • ½ cup peas
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Prepare the filling in the same way as the chicken filling. Heat the oil and fry the onions until golden brown. Add in curry powder, potatoes, peas, carrots, and 1 cup of water. Cook until the potatoes are tender. Add pepper, salt, and sugar, and cook until the filling is dry. Leave aside to cool before wrapping with the pastry.

Spicy beef filling
Beef curry puffs

Spicy Beef Curry Puff Recipe

Filling:

  • 5 tablespoons oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 fresh chilly, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder
  • 1 cup of diced beef
  • 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • some coriander leaves
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Cook the above ingredients in the same way as with the chicken filling recipe. Cool the filling before wrapping with the pastry dough.

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© 2011 lady rain

About the author

Lady Rain lives in Australia and enjoys writing about travels, paper quilling crafts and historical events. She wrote on HubPages for 14 years.

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