Portugese Egg Tarts.....for the first time

On Monday, my eldest son , Ian is sitting for his SPM. Gosh! I have a 17 year old son sitting for SPM, does that reminds me that I'm quite elderly already? LOL Kidding, I admit I'm in my mid 40s, but what's more important is I'm living my life to the fullest with no regrets!! Hope you all are the same too!

I'm sending my best wishes to all Malaysian Form 5 students who are sitting for their SPM, may you all score with flying colors and best of luck!!

As I haven't try making Portugese Egg Tarts before, I came across this recipe that I saw in Youtube under the blogger name Kitchen Tigress. She made it look so simple in the YouTube video on how she made these "Macau Style Portugese Egg Tarts" , and that caught my immediate attention, and I said , "Let's do it", since I have all the ingredients in my pantry. And another good thing is that her recipe only makes 9 tarts, and since this is my first time making Portugese Egg Tarts, 9 tarts is good enough to feed everyone in the house to try test and give comments, LOL
Btw, I do wish to thank this Kitchen Tigress on her generosity in sharing her recipe online in Youtube and in her blog, but somehow, I felt that she wouldn't care less if I make a comment in her blog or video saying my Thank you. Those of you who knows her, should know what I meant. She is a not so 'friendly' blogger I would be politely say, pretty short tempered too, eventhough I can't see her face, but from her reply to her followers, she doesn't seem to be helpful in teaching, and explaining , but more to critizing and mocking on people's ability in baking. Well, maybe her main intention is posting is to show her credibility instead of really friendly "sharing' and 'teaching' and she does thinks that she knows it all. Anyway, I'll say my Thank you here, ......if she'll see it, LOL

So here are the recipe and ingredients called for:

PORTUGESE EGG TARTS 
Recipe adapted from Kitchen Tigress
Makes 9 tarts

Ingredients
60gm thickened cream / heavy cream
60gm castor sugar
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp cornflour
260gm Full cream milk

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
9 frozen puff Pastry shells, cut to fit your tart shell pan

 Method

1. Custard Filling : Whisk cream, sugar egg yolks , milk and cornflour until smooth. Place pot in a water bath, stir over medium low heat until thick enough to coat the back of your wooden spoon.
2. Add vanilla essence and stir mixture until is half cool and leave it to cool completely.
3. Preheat oven to 250 C , line the baking tray with aluminum foil. This is to prevent the custard from overflowing while baking onto the tray.
4. Roll out your puff pastry from the freezer and cut according to the size of your tart pan / tin and place slightly apart on the baking tray.
5. Fill shells with the custard to 5mm from the rim.
6. Bake until the crust is brown, and the custard is burnt and stop bubbling. This may take about 30 to 35 minutes , depending on individual oven. It is advisable to check every 10 minutes and rotate the tray as required so that all egg tarts will brown evenly.
7. Remove egg tarts from the oven to place on the wire rack to cool. Serve within hours while the pastry are still warm and crispy. 

Happy Baking!

ALMOND PUFF FINGERS

Oh OK, tomorrow is my birthday.........I'm going to gain another year of wisdom and another countless strands of grey hair........and even maybe a few tiny 'crow's feet at the corner of my eyes. *Sigh* .........hehe

Kidding!! I'm not at all worried about that......but well, that's normally what a woman would be thinking on their birthday right.......in fact, I have been very 'rajin' nowadays with my beauty regime, I make sure I apply my night cream before I hit the sack every night, no matter how tired I am, unlike those days, when I just hop right into bed and worry about that later......*tongue*

Then I have invested quite a packs on face masks and making sure I scrub my face at least twice a week to remove dead skin and to refine my pores. Ya, ya, Hubby have been questioning me on why the sudden urgency in pampering my face.....kekekeke......."your wife knows that growing old is something I can't stop, but at least I wanna grow old in a 'pretty' way", that's what I answered him *wink*

Enough of my babbling on mask and scrubs and growing old, it happens every year at this time, LOL......bear with me ya! So, coming back to what's happening in the kitchen........well, I decided to not bake a cake for myself this year, nor a cupcake like last year. Enough of cakes and cupcakes..........why not something simple, something that I can just dunk into my morning coffee and still feels the 'satisfaction' of a good 'wake-up call' early in the morning!!??

Yeah!! I got what I wanted to bake........and I have it in my fridge from the leftovers from last week.........hehe, are you thinking what I'm thinking? Yes, the 'ready-made' packet of puff pastry!! I still have a packet in there and I 'd better use it before it expires! I collected this recipe from here and haven't actually had the chance to bake it, so today is defintiely 'D~day!!'

Here's the recipe, it's super easy if you are using 'ready-made' puff pastry, but I would agree that if you attempt to make your own puff pastry, that would be even better :)

ALMOND PUFF FINGERS

1 pack of  'ready-made' Puff Pastry

2 Tbsp of Egg white

2 Tbsp of Castor sugar (i)

80gm Almond flakes ( mine are lightly toasted already)

2 Tbsp Castor sugar (ii)

Method:

1. Take out your Puff pastry from the freezer and thaw for about 8-10 minutes. 
2. Roll it out to about a thickness of 5mm on 2 sheets of parchment paper or Clingwrap.
3. Mix egg white with castor sugar (i) and stir until sugar is dissolved.
4. Peel upper sheet of plastic or parchment paper and spread egg white mixture evenly on top of puff pastry.
5. Sprinkle almond flakes evenly on top of the pastry. Place the parchment paper or plastic back on top and lightly roll over with a rolling pin to press the almond flakes onto the pastry.
6. Remove the  parchment paper or plastic sheet , and sprinkle remaining castor sugar (ii) over the almond flakes.
7. Put the pastry into the freezer for about 30 minutes to let the topping set.
8. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius (fan-base oven) or normal over to 200 degree Celsius for about 15 minutes.
9. Cut the pastry into finger size and then place them onto non-greased baking sheet.
10. Bake at 180 degree Celsius for about 12 minutes and then turn the temperature down to 140 degree Celsius and bake for another 30 minutes.

Remark:  Kindly monitor the outcome, as what Wendy said , the further baking is actually to make it more crunchy, but different oven temperature might varies the outcome of the puff fingers, if yours starts to brown to quickly, maybe a lower temperature like 130 degree at a longer time would be better.

Lastly, I would say, I like this snacks, and it really makes my coffee break more tasteful and I suggest you give it a try.........till then, cheers to more baking!!

Happy "Almond Puff Fingers" baking!!

Vol~au~Vent.......mini but presentable

Wow, I'm trying hard to keep up, and no doubt that time can really flies when you are busy, hehe. This whole week, I was busy attending school fairs and exhibitions from Monday until Saturday. I was at SM La Salle on Monday, SM Lok Yuk on Tuesday, SM All Saints on Wednesday, KK High School on Thursday, Institut Sinaran on Friday and Sabah Tshung Tsin Secondary School on Saturday. However busy I was, I'm trying to take time out to bake something to keep up with my blogging....as promised.

Therefore, today I'm going to share with this mini little puff pastry that is 'mini' but very 'presentable' if you are serving it at a high-tea party. I saw this 'Vol~Au~Vent' picture sometime back when I was on a business trip in a in-flight magazine. Immediately , it caught my attention and I told myself that I will make this one day. Then, one day when I was in Popular Bookstore, I bumped into 'it' again , and this this time, with the recipe too. of course, without hesitation, I bought the whole cookbook without even flipping through to check on the rest of the book's content........well, that's me......I can go all out just to get a page of what I want in a 100 page book ! haha.........

Anyway, this book that I bought was not a waste too, as the rest of the contents are as interesting as this one - "Vol~Au`Vent". The title of the book is 'Alex Goh - Irresistible Pastries'.

Here's the recipe, it's really easy if you are using 'ready-made Puff Pastry' like I did this time..........but will try another time with my own DIY Puff Pastry *wink*.

Ingredients :

1 kg ready-made Puff Pastry

Filling:

50gm butter

40gm flour

500gm milk

1 Bay Leaf

200gm Shrimps, shelled 

100gm Mushrooms, sliced

2 tsp parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

(For you information, I did not use the above filling, as I don't have any shrimps at home , so I substituted with a can of Tuna Mayonnaise as the filling).

Method:

1. Roll out the puff pastry to about 5mm thickness and cut into round shapes with a 4"inch fluted cutter.
2. Then, use a 2.5" inch round cutter to cut a hole in the centre of half of the puff pastries disc from Step 1.
3. Place the pastry disc without a hole onto a lightly greased baking pan as the base. Brush the edges with some eggwash and place the pastry with a hole on top of it and press lightly.
4. Brush the top with eggwash and allow to stand for 20 minutes.
5. Bake at 200 degree Celsius for 20-25 minutes or until the puff pastry are puffy and golden brown .

For the filling:

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add in the flour. Stir for 30 seconds and add in milk gradually. Stir until well blended.
2. Add in bay leaf and bring to boil, stirring constantly.
3. Add in mushrooms and shrimps and parsley and cook over medium heat until it thickens. Add seasoning .
4. Fill the baked pastry cases with the filling. Decorate and serve.

 Till then, happy baking and do try this out, it's really easy -peasy if you everything 'ready-made'.....;)

DURIAN MINI PUFFS

Wow!!! I must say so myself (with 3 'exclamation' marks.........my blog was so empty for the month of October, and it's already quickly approaching to mid –month, where you can see other bloggers have more than 5-6 entries posted, some even more L *Sigh*.......what can I say, I was hit with a 'lousy' and 'busy' month in September...and that drags on until recently, in fact, the effect is still there.

Sometimes, it's just so sad when you least expect your close friend would do something to betray you, and yet, they did. When you wish tomorrow will be a better day....and yet it turned out to be the worst day of your life. Then, when you try to pick up the pieces and start all over again........you are being hurt again the second time, this time even harder and deeper by the same person. When you think that tomorrow you can finally have some quality time with your loved ones......but you are working on a Sunday too. Well, that's life.........right? I know.....but sometimes it's just human to shout it out loud, eventhough you don't mean to shake the whole world up and tell them how do you feel right now. Who would care? Sometimes, I felt that we are actually living in a world of our own.......very big but yet so small too; lots of people around you, but yet you felt lonely....... L

What the h---!! I'm fine now.....those who have done damage to me, thanks to you, I've become even stronger!! So, let this be the first entry to October, a whole new month for me, and a whole new chapter has begun.......let the past be gone, and I knew my 'tomorrows' will be bright and sunny........with other true friends and those who loved me ^-^ cheers!!

And so......I have actually baked something in October, just that my mind was not there at that time to quickly post it up, therefore, here's the sum-up of what I have baked, in fact I have one that I totally forgot to take a picture of it, and that is my craving on "Carrot Walnut Cake with Rich Creamy Cheese frosting....hehe......despite I'm having a lousy mood, LOL

Recipe for this 'Peanut Butter cookies can be found here.
 

.....and the baking continues ;)

Daring Bakers Challenge for May 2010 – A Piece of Montee / Croquembouche

It's the Daring Bakers Challenge posting period again, and you might start to queried me as this is already the month of June ( and to be exact, 1^st week of June is gone) and I'm only posting my completed May challenge now?? Yeah, yeah, I'm so, so late this time, and I have personally write in to apologized and also requested a late posting date from the organizer………….hehehe, and guess what, I'm not the only one lah…that's makes me feels so much better knowing that there are members out there who also lives in the 'real' world where…….sometimes, you just get out of schedule and be late for something, that's just normal……phew!! :P
So, I finally completed my 'Piece of Montee' after so many postponements due this this lah, that lah…..and sometimes, when it comes to baking, I don't know about you, but me…..it's all about the mood, and the mood swing includes what you want to bake for the day…..not anything will do, that's the thingy :P Anyway, I'm just glad that I did it and have however fulfill the members criteria……..as we are only allowed to miss maximum 4 challenge in a year and I have already skip two.
Ok, getting back to the challenge, May challenge was all about the Montee / Croquembouche where it is the traditional wedding cake in France. They are also often served at occasions like Baptisms or Communions. I was a bit skeptical at first when I saw the notes for the challenge…..I was thinking that what am I going to do with a mountain of Choux Puffs after the challenge??? I don't have a wedding to be gifted to , or a Baptism or even a Communion………and who is going to eat all these up……as I'm not talking about 10 choux puffs…….but at least 28 – 40 pieces of choux to be mounted up high in order to get that height to be qualified as a MONTEE!! OK…….no worries, I'll get to that later I thought, I'll find my eating troupes who are willing to wallop that montee for me…..LOL

The challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake and the recipes are from Peter Kump's Baking School in Manhattan and also designed by famous pastry chef , Nick Malgieri. To tell you the truth, I wouldn't deny that this is s far 'd' best Pate A Choux recipe in my collection. The recipe given has 3 components in it and that is the (1) Pate A Choux (2) Crème Patissiere and also (3) Chocolate Glaze as the mounting agent. I made the Crème Patissiere a day ealier as it requires at least 6 hours or overnight to cool and the flavor I have chosen is Vanilla.

 

 Ingredients:
For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere

1 cup (225ml) whole milk
2 Tbsp. Constarch
6 Tbsp. (100gm) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30gm) unsalted butter
1 tsp. Vanilla essence

Method:

1. Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.
2. Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.
3. Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continue whisking.
4. Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify / cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla essence.
5. Pour cream into a stainless steel / ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.
    

Pate a Choux (Yield about 28, but I got about 46)
¾ cup (175ml) water
6 Tbsp. (85gm) unsalted butter
¼ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup (125gm) all –purpose flour
4 large eggs

For Egg wash: 1 egg and a pinch of salt (I personally don't like the egg wash, as I feel that it browned too fast, the puff doesn't look nice)

Preparing batter:

1. Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

2. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
3. Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly. Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.
4. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes. It is this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs. 

Piping:

1. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip. Pipe choux about 1 inch- apart in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.
2. Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of the choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.
3. Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with a pinch of salt).
4. Bake the choux at 425~F / 220~C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.
5. Lower the temperature to 350~F/ 180~C degrees and continue baking until well-coloured and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool. Can be stored in an airtight container overnight.

Filling:

1. When you are ready to assemble your piece montee, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream, using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet.
2. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make the glaze.

Chocolate Glaze
Ingredients:
8 ounces (200gm) finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I would recommend the semi-sweet)

Melt the chocolate in microwave or double-boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Montee:
You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get the feel for how to assemble the dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. The take some of the larger choux and assemble them in circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble, dip the top of each choux in the chocolate galze (carefully as it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/ plate/ cheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up.

When you have finished the design of your piece montee, you may drizzle with the remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers and etc. to decorate. Have fun and enjoy!

Happy Montee Assembling !

PATE A CHOUX WITH FRESH WHIPPED CREAM

*Sigh*………I know how discouraging it is to start a line with a sigh……LOL….no lah, that was exactly how I felt on Tuesday morning when I went to work……I guessed it's the lazy bugs visiting. I posted how lousy I felt in status bar in Facebook, and a few friends suggested I should go home tonight and bake the hell out of it……..LOL….which I seldom do, because I always bake when I'm feeling happy, not when I'm feeling lousy…………………well, that's because I think I'm just afraid that what I bake will fail me and it will make me feel even lousier :P…………………..but since these two friends (JB and CW) suggested, I gave it a try, and planned out nicely what I wanted to bake for tonight…….and I chosed "Pate a Choux" or also known as "Choux Pastry".

The reason why I chosed Pate a Choux / Choux Pastry is because I have a DB Challenge to accomplish by 28^th of this month and the theme this month is to bake 'Pate a Choux' to make a piece of "Montee" (a mounted piece of Croquembouche that comprises only Choux Pastries). So, since I still have some time to brush up on my skill in making this Pate a Choux (as some of you may know, my 1^st attempt in making Pate a Choux failed as the Choux does not puff, it sink so sadly and badly L) before I carry out the challenge, I'll use this night as a trial.

Therefore, the recipe I used to make this Choux Pastry is actually the recipe given by the DB host of May, and it is a recipe that she adapted it from Peter Kump's Baking School in Manhattan by Chef Nick Malgieri. This recipe is a sure keeper as I can tell you now, my 2^nd attempt turned out really good, the structure of the Choux was so solid, but the texture inside of it was soft, and even until the 3^rd day (today) as I still have some left in a container I stored in the fridge. As this was baked quite late at night, I finished baking at around 10.30pm, so didn't have enough time to make the Crème Patissiere, so I just filled it with whipped cream and dusted icing sugar on top……..and they kids just loved it, they bring these to school for 2 days in a row now……..:P

Happy 'Pate a Choux' Baking………^_^

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28) (I got 26 as mine was slightly bigger)

¾ cup water
85gm unsalted butter
¼ tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
125gm all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Preparing batter:

1. Preheat oven to 425~F/ 220~C, and lined 2 baking tray with parchment papers.
2. Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.
3. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
4. Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon for 1 minute to cool slightly.
5. Add 1 egg and the batter will appear loose and shiny. Keep stirring and as you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes. It is at this point that you will add in the next egg and repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:

1. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip.
2. Pipe choux about 1 inch-part on the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high and about 1 inch wide.
3. Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of the choux when piping.
4. Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).
5. Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.
6. Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degres and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 – 25 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool. The Choux can be stored in a airtight box overnight.
    

Happy Choux Pastry Baking !

DIY Puff Pastry Chicken Pie

A promise is a promise……..but do accept my apology for the late posting of this recipe as requested by a few of you. I was searching for the photos of this recipe to refresh myself what is it actually……….and I guessed I'm so ooo……….way back behind oh……I have so many recipes posting that wasn't been posted yet…….really sorry about that, will definitely try to make up and catch up too.
In fact the main focus on this Chicken Pie would be the DIY Puff Pastry as the filling can be of anything that you like and comfortable with……..you might like Curry Beef, Mushroom Chicken, or even plain vegetable pie will be good too. Therefore, do excuse me on the recipe for the filling, as I did exactly the same with my previous post on "Chicken Dome Pie"……you knowlah, I'm not a cook when it comes to the wok………so I normally settles down with something that doesn't requires me to a heavy cooking and ended up messing the whole kitchen with splattered oil here and there…..hehe :P
I hope you will be understand the diagram that I have draft out (it's a courtesy from here) to show you how you go about folding the dough and the pastry margarine and to form the layers in a puff pastry. For your information, the more amount of time you fold it, the more layers you'll get ……..and the maximum should be around 5-6 folds, as the more folds you do, the pastry margarine will thins out and eventually, it blends in with the dough already.
So, this is the original recipe and I normally halve it as I find that it's quite a big amount to make the whole ingredient. With the halves, I normally can get about 10-12 pieces of curry puffs or 8-10 chicken pie with a pastry cover……………hehe.

 ¾ Puff Pastry Recipe
880gm All Purpose Flour / Plain Flour
13gm Salt
510ml water, room temperature
660gm Butter slab / pastry margarine

Method

1. Sift the flour, mix it with salt and water and form a dough, you might need additional flour to mix it until it doesn't stick to your fingers anymore. Do not over knead it.

2. Cover the dough with a cling wrap and let rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
3. Roll out the pastry margarine / butter slab to 2/3 of the dough (as shown in the diagram). Make sure that there isn't too much excess dough at the side.
4. Fold #1 according to the diagram and then Fold #2. Wrap it up with cling wrap and let the dough rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
5. The turn the dough 90 degree and repeat the fold #1 and then fold #2 (without the pastry margarine / butter slab of course).
6. Repeat another 90 degree turn and let it let rest for 30 minutes again in the fridge. (Always remember, puff pastry requires a lot of resting for the dough each time you have fold it….*sigh*).
7. Then again, repeat the 90 degree fold until you have a good 5-6 turn, where it will gives you approximately 243 layers for 5 folds and 729 layers for 6 folds.
8. Again…….before you do anything to it, please let it rest again for another 30 minutes….LOL, I know you are getting impatiently already……..:P, but it's a must oh, no joke.

After all the resting is done, pre-heat the oven to 180~C. Now you may cut it into your desired shapes, or use a round cookie cutter of 9-10cm, to cut out a circle and press it into your pie tin, then spoon in some filling, cover it with another layer of puff pastry, the size slightly smaller (about 6-7cm) and seal it with egg whites at the rim of the pie tin. Remember to always use a fork to poke a few holes on the top of the cover to let release the trapped hot air when baking.
Use a pastry brush to egg wash it and bake at 180~C for about 20-25 minutes or until it is golden brown in colour. Take it out, cool on the wire rack and ready to serve.

Happy DiY Puff Pastry Baking ya........;)

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.