These puffs are typical of Thai street food: little pastry packages stuffed with all manner of goodness. But being Thai they couldn’t just fold over a lump of dough, no sir. Check out the technique below on how the dough is layered and assembled once you’ve made the stuffing. Now check out the photo. The result is a unique almost braided pastry that is light and crispy and the perfect vessel for whatever you decide to stuff inside. You’ll have to practice the dough rolling technique a few times to get it right but they’ll all taste delicious along the way as you get better at it.
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 coriander roots scraped and chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt (5ml)
- 3 whole garlic cloves peeled and smashed
- ½ teaspoon whole white peppercorns (2.5ml)
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (45ml)
- 2 tablespoons curry powder (30ml)
- 2 tablespoons grated palm sugar (30ml)
- 2 tablespoons light low sodium soy sauce (30ml)
- 200 grams roughly chopped boneless skinless chicken thighs (6oz)
- 1 medium onion small dice
- 500 gr boiled potatoes cooled, peeled and cubed ¼ inch (1lb)
- A little chicken stock or water
- ½ cup chopped coriander leaves (125ml)
- Vegetable oil for deep frying about 4 cups (1liter)
Outer pastry
- 1 tablespoon ghee or butter (15ml)
- 2 cups all- purpose flour (500ml)
- 2 tablespoons corn starch (30ml)
- 1 teaspoon salt (5ml)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (30ml)
- ¾ cup water (190ml)
Inner pastry
- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil (75ml)
- 1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour (250ml)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch (15ml)
Directions
Filling
- Make a paste from the coriander roots, salt, garlic and pepper using a pestle and mortar
- Heat oil over medium heat in wok or frying pan add the paste and fry until golden and fragrant.
- Turn down heat to medium low, add curry powder and, when fragrant, season with sugar and soy sauce.
- Add chicken, onion and potatoes and simmer for 10 minutes, until onion is cooked and all is tender. If necessary, moisten with a little stock or water to prevent it drying out and burning. The filling should taste rich, slightly sweet and salty, perfumed by the curry powder; it needs to taste quite strong or the puffs will be bland. Allow to cool and then stir in the fresh coriander.
Outer pastry
- Rub the ghee or butter into flour and cornstarch, allow to rest 30 minutes.
- Combine remaining ingredients and work in.
- Knead until smooth and well incorporated. Rest 30 minutes.
- Roll into small balls 4cm (1 ½ inch) in diameter – you should have 12-16 balls
Inner pastry
- Work oil into flour and cornstarch, knead until wet, and then rest for 20 minutes. Roll into the same number of 2cm balls (1inch) balls.
- Roll each ball of outside pastry into a disc.
- Place an inner pastry ball at the top of the disc and, with your fingers, roll the outside pastry over it to make a shape like a cigar.
- Turn cigar by 90 degrees and, with a rolling pin, flatten from centre out into an elliptical shape. Roll up with your fingers again and turn another 90 degrees; roll flat with a pin again, keeping the rough oval shape. Repeat turning and rolling up once more, and then let rest 4 minutes.
- Cut pastry rolls into discs a little more than ½ cm (1/4 inch) thick.
- Roll these out into ovals about 6 cm (2 ½ inch) long and 4 cm (1 1/2inch) wide.
- Place a tablespoon of cooled stuffing just forward of the centre. Moisten one edge of pastry with water. Fold pastry over and seal, making a semi-circle. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
- Place the oil in the wok set over medium high heat. Allow to preheat to 365-375F. Fry the pastries in small batches (being careful not to over crowd the pot) until pastry is golden brown and crispy. Remove using a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel lined baking tray.