Curry Puffs

• 200g chicken thigh fillets, cut into cubes
• 2tbsp curry powder
• ½ onion, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 100g potato, cut into small cubes
• Small handful fresh curry leaves
• 1tbsp sugar
• 300g plain flour
• 75g unsalted butter
• Vegetable oil for deep frying

• Dice the onion, and finely chop the garlic

WATER DOUGH

• Place 200g plain flour into a bowl, make a well and crack an egg in. Add 50 mls of water, and mix with your hand until everything starts to come together, add a little more water if needed. Take it out of the bowl to knead the dough by pushing and stretching the dough, and folding it back on itself, for about 4-5 mins. Pop cling film over the ball of dough and leave to rest while working on butter dough.

BUTTER DOUGH

• Add 100g flour, 75 g unsalted butter, and a pinch of salt together in a bowl. Rub everything together with your hands as you would for a shortcrust pastry. Once the butter add flour are mixed together well, bring it all together and portion out 20g balls of dough. Then unwrap the water dough and portion out 30g of dough.

COMBINING THE TWO DOUGHS

• Neaten the dough balls up by rolling them into smooth little balls using the “pinchy pinchy, twisty twisty” method. Grab a ball of dough and hold it where your thumb and index finger meet. Pinch down using your other thumb, and twist the ball around with your hand. Keep doing this until you form a smooth ball. Now take the water dough balls and stretch them out into 4 cm flat circles, using your fingers. Place the butter dough ball inside the water dough and wrap it up, by pinching down with your thumb and bringing the sides up, while rotating. Pinch and seal the water dough over the butter dough ball. Now roll the whole thing out into a long oblong shape. Then roll it up into a cigar shape, turn it 90 degrees, flatten it and roll it out again. Now roll it up again and cut it in half. You should be able to see the spiral patterns in the dough. To finish off, squash the dough down and roll out again into 5cm oval shapes. Do this for each dough ball.

FILLING

• Add a Tbsp of filling into the centre of each oval shape. Bring the two edges together, pinch the centre, and seal closed into a half moon. Crimp around the side if you like.

Oil a hot pan on the hob, and get it up to a high heat. Place the onions in first, once they have browned slightly add the garlic.Keeping moving the garlic around for about a min so that it does not burn. Add the curry powder, and mix through, being careful not to let it catch, keep stirring. Now add the chicken and coat it with the curry mix. Once the chicken is nearly cooked through, add the diced potatoes, and season with a pinch of salt and sugar. Finally add finely chopped fresh curry leaves. Stir well, adding a tiny bit of water to assist with scraping the browning off the bottom of the pan. Leave to simmer without a lid until the mixture is dry. Set aside and allow to cool.

FRYING

• Now deep fry in a wok or pan filled with hot oil for 4-5 mins until golden brown.