Veg Curry puff

Making vegetable curry puff was always a mystery to me until recently when I was determined to learn it and get it right. Now it no longer feels like a rocket science. This is one of those very famous snacks that we used to crave for when we visited bakeries in India. And we never seemed to have enough of them. We find many versions of curry puffs with a variety of stuffings ranging from paneer to egg. Here is my version of this great snack with a potato & peas stuffing.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Potato - 2 

Onion - 1/2

Peas - 1/2 cup

Salt

Cumin Powder - 1 tsp

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Red chilly Powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 0.5 tsp

Chaat Masala Powder - 1 tsp

Dry Mango (Amchur) Powder - 1 tsp

Puff Pastry Sheets / shells - 1 box (you can either buy this in store or make it fresh at home).

Preparation:

1. Boil potato in a pressure cooker. Once boiled, mash them and keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onions. 

3. Once the onions fry a bit, add peas and salt. 

4. After the peas are cooked a bit, add the masalas - cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilly powder, turmeric powder, chaat masala powder and amchur powder. Mix them well.

5. Then add the mashed potato to the mix. Mix it well and turn off the flame.

The mixture is now ready to be stuffed and baked to make veg puffs. I generally buy the puff pastry from grocery store - you can generally find it in the frozen section of the grocery store.

If you have puff pastry sheets:

1. Remove the puff pastry sheets from freezer and keep it in room temperature for sometime until its icy stiffness is gone (natural way of defrosting I say :-) )

2. Preheat the oven at 400 F for 10 mins.

3. Cut the puff pastry sheets into rectangles and once they are back to room temperature, you should be able to fold them easily and thats when you know the puffs are ready to be stuffed.

4. Once they are ready to be stuffed, place 1 spoon of the mixture on one side and then fold it. 

5. Place it in a oven friendly tray (we use aluminium trays) and let it bake for 25 mins.

If you have puff pastry shells:

1. Preheat the oven at 400 F for 10 mins

2. Once your remove puff pastry shells from the freezer, place them on a tray and bake them for 25 mins.

3. After that, remove the central portion with a fork and stuff you mixture in that and then place the center lid back.

4. Bake it for another 3 mins in the oven and they are ready.

This is best served with tomato ketchup.