Puffed up and set for chow down

There’s this chicken that is complicated to make. The whole chicken–I mean whole, including head, feet, claws and feathers–is packed in mud and baked. And after hours of baking, you have to use a hammer to crack the mud packed around it and da-da! the chicken is cooked.

When you pull off the mud, the feathers come off and expose the cooked bird with its chippy essence, good or bad, encapsulated.

Whoever thought of it must have had a lot of time to wait for the chicken to be baked. It probably started with pheasant or quail. It’s not complicated if you’re in the wild where you have neither Crockpot nor Cuisinart. Just stick the bird in the mud and light fire over it, I guess. I wonder why they just didn’t roast it over the fire.

I kid you not, Steve, there is such a chicken. It’s called Beggar’s Chicken. Today I think they pull the feathers out first. I’ve had it in fancy restaurants in Hong Kong. Meah. It’s just baked chicken. With Chinese herbs to season.

Now that was what I thought about when Stephen Jordan gave me his three adjectives for the Recipe Challenge–feathered, spicy and filling. Problem is Beggar’s Chicken is not spicy.

Feathered seemed to point to some kind of bird. But then again, maybe you just mean something light, flaky and fluffy. I took the liberty of that interpretation and came up with this: Beef Curry Puff.

Flaky pastry is feathery, right? Couldn’t find flaky pastry so I used Pepperidge Puff Pastry, which turned out wispy and light. This has curry so it can be as spicy as you want; adjust with chili powder if you want it hotter. And hey, the pastry has a filling. (Got it? Filling? Eat nine or ten of them and you’ll be full, darling.)

Yup, Beef Curry Puff. My favorite snack in Singapore (meaning I can eat it every day) is Curry Puff. Usually Curry Puff has chicken in it. But I changed it to beef instead to express my confidence in my interpretation of feathered. I used a filling that I use for making samosas.

If I was wrong, Steve, I put an alternate meat at the bottom of this post. See VARIATIONS on swapping the beef with chicken breast.

The curry puffs in Singapore are encased in a pastry that is deep fried. It is yummy. I’ll try it some day when I feel like working with hot oil (which is not often.) The Pepperidge Farm frozen puff pastry worked easily and looked pretty. The package comes with two sheets of pastry. Each sheet can be cut into nine squares, about 3-4 inches wide.

Make sure the pastry dough is thawed on kitchen counter for no longer than 40 minutes, according to the maker’s website. Also have the oven preheated as well. Some recipes suggested 400 degrees Fahrenheit but mine worked perfectly at 375. I read somewhere to lower the rack to the bottom one-third level so the tops of the pastry don’t burn. Good call.

Singapore curry puffs have potato and onion and sometimes hard boiled egg in them. I added some ketchup to give it a little more flavor. Use a good ground sirloin so the beef tastes better. You can also add half a cup of peas at the end of cooking. Or, you can just cook this with onion and potato, no meat.

You may use store bought curry powder or make your own. For more on curry powder, click here.

Beef Curry Puff

Preparation time: 1½ hours
Makes 18 curry puffs

1 package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry (two sheets)
1 cup flour
1 raw egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Curry beef filling
2 tablespoons curry powder
3-4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons oil
¾ cup onion, chopped
½ pound ground sirloin or round
1 large red potato, peeled and diced into ½ inch cubes
1½ cup water
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon salt.

Take pastry sheet out of the box and allow to thaw for 40 minutes. If your kitchen is warm, thaw for 30 minutes. Dough should not get too soft. If it does, put it back in refrigerator to harden a bit.

While dough is thawing, prepare beef curry filling. In a small bowl blend curry powder with water to make a paste. Set aside.

Heat half the oil in a 3-quart saucepan. Add onion and fry for about 3 minutes until onion is translucent and soft, lowering heat to medium halfway through cooking.

Push onion aside to make some room to fry curry paste. Add rest of oil to space in pan and heat. Add curry paste to oil and stir it to heat up the paste, about half a minute.

MIx some onion into the paste and fry for another 30 seconds. Add beef and fry to combine curry and brown beef, scraping the bottom of pan to dislodge curry stuck there. Sprinkle a little water if necessary. Fry until beef starts to firm up, about 2-3 minutes.

Add potato, ketchup and rest of water and mix well. Bring to boil and when boiling, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring periodically. Beef is done when potato is tender and water has evaporated. If potato is still not cooked, add a little water and continue cooking until it is fork tender.

Add salt to taste. Place beef in a large bowl to cool.

Making the curry puffs

Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

While beef is cooling down prepare pastry sheet. In a small bowl, beat egg with water and set aside.

Roll out pastry sheet on a floured surface to stretch out the sheet and make it slightly thinner. It will not enlarge by much; all you want is to make it more pliable and slightly thinner so you can fold the square. You may also sprinkle some flour on the top surface to prevent it from sticking to your rolling pin. Cut one sheet into nine squares.

Scoop one full spoonful of beef curry on to the center of each square.

Brush egg on to two adjacent sides of each square. Fold square into a triangle, wrapping the beef inside by sealing the edges together.

Use a fork to push down on the two sides of the triangle to seal the puff securely and attractively. Place triangle on to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush surface with egg wash.