Chicken Curry Puffs (Shortcrust Pastry)

This would be my first attempt in making Curry Puffs and I understand that there are a few types of pastry to make the skin……..(1) Shortcrust Pastry (2) Puff Pastry and (3) Nyonya Flaky Pastry. Today I'm going to try to make 2 out of the 3 as mentioned…….and that is Shortcrust and Puff Pastries. I have a helper (Shirley) and a taster (Winnie) to see me to it……haha, no lah, just kidding, they are my two good friends that happened to be visiting me today. I have already got the Curry Chicken for the filling cooked earlier (yesterday evening) to save a bit of my time, as you know lah, I'm a lousy cook when it comes to wok…..:P
I have done both this pastries before and therefore I would say the chances of succeeding should be quite promising, LO ^-^ As Shirley is still very new to baking, she told me that she'll be here to see how I get things prepared, then the rolling out of the dough, filling in the pastries and then baking it. As for Winnie, she is more to tasting the end-product, hehe. In fact, this is also the first time I actually had someone here, watching me bake......kinda makes me feel nervous though, hehe. So, the following is the ingredients used to prepare the Curry Chicken (filling) and also the Shortcrust pastry. By the way, this recipe was from Corner Cafe

Ingredient for Curry Chicken

250gm of chicken breast fillet, diced and marinated with 1 tsp light soya sauce, ½ tsp sugar, ¼ tsp salt and a pinch of ground white pepper

350g potatoes, peeled, boiled until semi-soft & diced
1 small onion, peeled & chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled & chopped
2-3 tablespoons canola oil
1 ½ tablespoons meat curry powder, dissolved in 1 ½ tablespoons water
3 tablespoons coconut milk powder, dissolved in 3 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons sugar, or to taste
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
dash ground white pepper
finely chopped fresh red chilli, or chilli powder, to taste (optional)

Shortcrust Pastry:
240g plain flour
60g cornflour
1 teaspoon baking powder
25g (1 ½ Tablespoons) caster sugar
½ teaspoon salt
75g cold lard, cubed
75g cold butter, cubed
1 egg, lightly beaten
30-40ml water, adjust as necessary

1 egg yolk with about 1 teaspoon egg white, lightly beaten for eggwash

Preparation

Filling:
1. Marinate diced chicken for at least 1/2 hour.

2. Heat the wok, add canola oil and sauté chopped onion until translucent and fragrant. Add chopped garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Add curry powder paste and stir-fry until fragrant.

3. Add marinated chicken and stir-fry until colour changes. Add cooked diced potato and dissolved coconut milk powder and stir to combine. Seasoned to taste with sugar, salt and pepper. Cook briefly until the filling is dry. Remove to a plate and let cool. When it is cold, cover and chill in the refrigerator until ready to be used.

Shortcrust Pastry:
1. Sift plain flour, cornflour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a big mixing bowl and mix together.

2. Add cubed lard and butter. Rub into the flour mixture using your fingertips until the mixture resemble breadcrumbs.

3. Add lightly beaten egg and about 20ml water into the flour mixture. Cut through the mixture with a bread knife to combine. Once the mixture starts to cling together, use your hand to press together into a dough. Try not to knead too much if you can. If the mixture is still crumbly and does not form into a dough, add a little bit more water to bind. Shape the dough into a ball then flatten. Wrap the dough with cling film and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes in hot weather. If the weather is cold, it can be left, wrapped, on the kitchen bench for 30 minutes without chilling.

4. Remove dough from the refrigerator and let it become pliable again before rolling out. Preheat oven to 180°C.

5. Roll out the dough with floured rolling pin to about 4mm thick on lightly floured surface.

6. With a floured 10cm round cutter, cut out rounds of pastry.

7. Spoon about 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons cold filling into the centre of each pastry round. Fold the pastry over to half-moon shape to enclose the filling and seal by crimping the edges into rope shape. Arrange the pastry on a lined baking sheet.

8. Eggwash the top of each pastry. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.