[CH] Curry puffs for the holidays

Assembly (Assembly1@btinternet.com)
Sat, 18 Dec 1999 17:11:32 +0000 

Hi all, 

This recipe has become a yearly Christmas tradition in our house.  It's from
_Pacific and South-East Asian Cooking_ from Time-Life Foods of the World
series and slightly adapted.  May not be authentic, but dipped in a Thai
sweet chile sauce, it's pretty nice.

Malaysian Curry Puffs
Makes about 30 puffs

6 green cayennes, stemmed, seeded (if you can bother), and finely chopped;
1-in. piece finely chopped ginger; 2 finely, chopped garlic cloves; 2 Tblsp.
butter; 2 Tblsp. finely chopped onions (this year I used spring onions
because I had used all the regular ones on my enchiladas); 1/2 lb. lean
ground beef; 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric (or grated fresh); 1/2 tsp. ground
cumin; 1/4 tsp. ground coriander; 1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste; 2 Tblsp. lime
juice; 2 Tblsp. dessicated coconut; short-crust pastry for a 10-in. pie
(sweet or not - I've made it both ways).

Preheat oven to 375 deg., gas mark 5.  Melt butter in skillet.  Fry onions
until soft, then add chiles, ginger, and garlic; simmer for 2-3 minutes. 
Add beef, break up all lumps, and cook until no longer pink.  Add spices,
salt, lime juice and coconut (one is supposed to use fresh grated, but I
find that the limes juice plumps up the dessicated just fine).  This will
taste hot without the pastry, but will be less hot when wrapped in the
pastry, so if you want it really hot, then start with more chiles.

Roll out the pastry; cut into 2 1/2 in. rounds (I use a little thali dish
this size).  Place about a teaspoon of beef in the centre of each round of
dough, moisten round the edge with a finger dipped in water, and then fold
into half-moon shapes.  Press the edges together with your fingers or crimp
with a fork.  Freeze the ones you don't want to use immediately on a baking
sheet and then they'll stay happily in a freezer bag until you need them.

Bake puffs you do want on a baking sheet at the above temperature for 25-30
minutes until they are brown and the innards are singing (frozen ones bake
from frozen for maybe another 5 minutes extra).  They can be served at room
tremperature, but are really fine hot.

Cheers,

 Virginia