Spiral Sardine / Curry Puffs

 

Deep-fried flaky pastry filled with spicy and tangy sardines, potatoes and onions

I have been craving for curry puffs the past few days, and although it's not that difficult to prepare the curry filling, I wasn't too keen on standing over a hot stove frying all the ingredients, especially since my air-conditioning had broken down (for the second time this year) and the weather has just been hot, hot, hot! On the other hand, preparing the sardine filling takes only half the time and effort, and I love sardine puffs as I find it packs more flavour and more punch compared to curry puffs.

I've always been daunted by the thought of making these spiral pastries, but the truth is, the dough is actually easy to make. Yeah, that was the easy part. The tricky part for me was rolling out the individual pieces of dough and wrapping the filling inside. If the dough dries out too much, the spiral layers tend to separate easily and may result in gaps in the pastry. I realised that I should have covered the dough with a damp cloth, which I did when I attempted making these again today.

I couldn't decide on which recipe to use. The ones I made yesterday used margarine, and today I used butter instead and added a bit of egg. Maybe next time I will just use butter instead of margarine and omit the egg, and see how they turn out. In any case, both versions were crispy and delicious (although I prefer today's one which had a slight buttery taste). I made a couple of mini buttered mashed potato puffs for dear H, and she loved them!

The recipe that I used for yesterday's batch was from Rinnchan.

And here is the recipe for today's version:

Spiral Sardine Puffs Recipe

Ingredients

Water dough:

• 300g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Oil dough:

• 150g plain flour
• 100g butter

Filling::

• 1 can sardines in tomato sauce (about 200g), lightly mashed with a fork
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2 red chillies, chopped
• 1 large potato, diced into cubes and microwaved/steamed till cooked
• 3-4 tbsp tomato sauce
• 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp chicken stock powder
• 1/2 tsp lime juice
• Salt, pepper and sugar to taste
• 1/4 cup water

Method

To make water dough: Place flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add egg and oil and swirl it through with finger. Add water and swirl through until combined. Knead into a smooth dough.leave aside to rest for 10 minutes. Divide into 2 portions.

To make oil dough: Rub butter into the flour to form an oily dough. Divide into 2 portions.

To  make pastry (click here for pictorial instructions): Wrap oil dough inside water dough. Flatten the dough and roll up. Repeat the process. Cut the rolled-up dough into two. Use a rolling pin to press it flat. Shape into a circle. Add filling and seal the sides. Pinch the edges to form a scallop design. Deep fry puffs in hot oil.

To make filling: Heat wok with 1 tbsp oil. Fry garlic, onions, chillies, and add the rest of the ingredients, and fry until the potatoes have absorbed the sauce. Add more water if necessary. The filling should be moist, not dry. Leave to cool.

Not the prettiest looking sardine puff, but still quite delicious

A moist and delicious sardine filling encased in crispy layers of deep-fried pastry

Raw dough that has been rolled up, sliced and ready to be rolled out

This is my second attempt, using butter instead of margarine (as in the earlier photos) in the dough.
Butter wins hands down! Yum!