Why curry puffs make for excellent celebration food

The popular chicken curry puff should balance potato, chicken and egg. The sardine curry puff should balance sardine, tomato and shallots so that you can taste each flavour in one bite.

Source: Destination Flavour Singapore

Dumplings are synonymous with Lunar New Year celebrations. These treats, which are made of dough stuffed with fillings, are eaten widely across Asian countries to celebrate the Lunar New Year because their shape often resembles ancient Chinese currency, symbolising wealth. In Singapore, people also enjoy something similar for the occasion: curry puffs, also known as epok-epok and karipap.

When I first visited Singapore, I found the country's obsession with these curry-filled pastry puffs intriguing. Call me ignorant, but how did they come to be in Singapore?

The curry puff's history is unclear but it's generally thought to have originated in Singapore and Malaysia. One of the first places in Singapore to have made a curry puff is believed to be a local cafe that used a curry recipe from an Indian merchant. The pastry wrapping is understood to be a British influence.

Source: SBS Food

Melbourne-based sous chef Kim Tang of Society Restaurant says curry puffs brought her family together. "My siblings and I have a special love for curry puffs because we grew up preparing curry puffs, with all family members coming together and enjoying the flaky goodness," Tang says. "There are many different fillings and our family favourite is the sardine puff - savoury, sweet, sour and fishy - what else could you ask for?"

Tang explains that good curry puffs have "hallmarks". The popular chicken curry puff should balance potato, chicken and egg. The sardine curry puff should balance sardine, tomato and shallots so that you can taste each flavour in one bite.

The pastry's texture should be flaky, although some can be more doughy if that's what you prefer. "A sign of a superior puff [pastry] is the spiral pattern of flakes at the edges and across the face, but [they should] absolutely never [be] greasy despite being a fried snack," she says.

"We eat them during breakfast and teatime. And when freshly made, the crispy and flaky deep-fried curry puffs are best eaten together with a glass of soy bean milk."

My siblings and I have a special love for curry puffs because we grew up preparing curry puffs, with all family members coming together and enjoying the flaky goodness.

When Tang needs to fulfil her cravings for her family's sardine curry puffs, she visits two eateries in Melbourne.

"In Melbourne, there are two great modern curry puffs, one from RAYA cafe, which is filled with either chicken, egg and potato or chilli, tomato and onion, and 'spiked' with sardines encased in a buttery shortcrust pastry." This is baked and is close to a 'pasty' but still has Southeast Asian flavours.

"Another great version is [at] Myth Cafe: their sardine puff is a delicious savoury and crispy snack, traditionally crimped and deep fried with a gooey filling with red onion and sardine."

Source: Randy Larcombe Photography

Another Melbourne-based chef, Gopi Govindasamy of Searz Caffi, says people love to have curry puffs as an afternoon snack. Having grown up in Singapore's Little India, curry puffs were abound.

"I was born and raised in Singapore, and having been brought up for most of my life in Singapore's Little India, I was just a short walk across the road to Selegie Road from Rochor Canal where Selera Restaurant sold the best ever curry puffs," Govindasamy says. They were filled with diced potato, chicken and a mild curry sauce.

"The filling was awesome but the pastry was just as good, being flaky, crunchy and buttery all in one." 

Just a short walk from that restaurant was another iconic curry-puff eatery called Old Chang Kee. "I remember at 2pm there was always a line of people standing outside from all walks of life – waiting for their afternoon snack." He was one of them – sent by his dad or grandad to buy curry puffs for the family.

"I would always demolish one of them on the way back home, wiping my face clean with my t-shirt sleeve, and pretending I didn't have one yet so I could have more with the family."

The filling was awesome but the pastry was just as good, being flaky, crunchy and buttery all in one.

Govindasamy thinks that Singaporean curry puffs have changed over the decades.

"Over the years, different neighbourhoods have created their own versions of the curry puff. My grandma used to buy curry puffs with half a boiled egg inside, which was much larger than the old-school curry puffs I had when I was a kid." 

The recipes he grew up with are winners in Govindasamy's mind. "The perfect curry puff has to have the right ratio of chunky chicken to diced potato, mildly spiced, a little heat from the chilli and a flaky pastry to hold it all in without spilling out.

"I would take a curry puff over and biscuit or cake for my afternoon tea."

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Kim Tang's curry puffs

Makes 20-25

Ingredients

Pastry

• 500 g flour 
• 1 tsp salt
• 310 g water (room temperature)
• 120 g hot oil

You can also buy puff pastry instead.

Filling

• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp chilli paste
• 1 can (150 g) sardines in tomato sauce, drained and broken up
• 1 sprig curry leaves, finely chopped
• 1 red shallot, sliced
• 1 small knob ginger, grated
• 1 tsp chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 long red chilli, sliced thinly 
• ½ tsp tamarind paste
• Salt to taste
• White pepper to taste

Method

Pastry 

1. Mix salt and flour evenly.
2. Heat oil on high.
3. Pour hot oil directly onto the flour mix. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
4. Add water and continue kneading until the dough comes together.
5. Set dough aside in the fridge.
6. Portion the dough into 30 g pieces and set again in the fridge. 

Filling 

1. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat.
2. Add sliced shallots and garlic, and sauté until golden.
3. Add chilli paste (cili boh) and curry powder.
4. Keep cooking until the oil begins to separate.
5. Add curry leaves and cook for another 3 minutes.
6. Mash sardine with a fork and add to the pan. Add tamarind paste and stir.
7. Add 80 grams of water and cook over medium heat for another 15 minutes or until the mix starts to reduce and thicken.
8. If you'd like, add boiled potatoes cut into cubes, boiled eggs or any other ingredients you'd like.
9. Adjust seasoning to taste. 

Assembling

1. Roll each piece of dough into a circle and put a dollop of curry filling and 1 chilli slice on top.
2. Fold the dough to make a crescent or semi-circle shape, and crimp the edges to seal.
3. Fry at medium heat or bake in the oven at 200°C until golden.