Curry Puff Pastry

I feel a little rested now, having taken a nap an hour ago, while cleaner was getting my home spick and spank. Just put the pots of soup and stew onto stove to boil a little longer and the rice is cooked, thus have some free time. As promised in earlier post, I have here, the recipe for the pastry which I used for the curry puffs.

It was given by a ex-friend of mine and it is rather simple except that if you do not have a mixer, you need to rely a lot on arm power.

Ingredients - (pastry)

250g plain flour
250g self-raising flour
250g butter (salted)
1 egg
1/2 cup water

Method -

1. Cut butter into small cubes and rub in flour till resemble breadcrumbs.
2. Add egg and 1/4 cup of water first. Knead. (The longer you knead, the firmer the crust). Slowly add remaining water till you achieve the right consistency. (I didn't use all of the water, once it starts like getting a little sticky, stop adding).
3. Continue to knead till it's a pliable dough.
4. Meanwhile, turn on the oven to 350deg F or 180deg C while preparing puffs.
5. Brush with egg wash or milk before baking.
6. Bake in oven at 180deg C for an hour (I only baked in there for approx 40mins).

Ok, I have never made curry puff filling and it was the first time I tried to. So, it's mostly based on memory what I used and did, so I'll try my best to remember. :P

Ingredients - (filling)

2 medium potatoes, cut into little cubes
2 boneless chicken thighs, skinned removed, also cut into small pieces
2 shallots, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
curry powder
salt to taste

Method -

1. Saute shallots in oil till soft, then add garlic and saute till fragrant.
2. Add chicken and fry till half cooked.
3. Add potatoes, then curry powder (not sure but I might have used approx 3-4tsps as I just basically poured it in from the packet just till the taste suited me).
4. Add some water and let it simmer till almost dry, and both potatoes and chicken are cooked. Add salt to taste. Turn off flame and scoop it onto plate and let cool till needed.

And S, I'm glad it passed your fussy tastebuds that you had to tell your hubby about it. ;) So good luck trying this. :D

Some free time

Last week was busy for me as hubby was away, so while little girl was in full-day school, I wasn't having it easy either. My arthritis has been acting up pretty bad and I had to insist on an appointment with the doc. Whatever it took, I just had to make them squeeze me in as my appointment wasn't due till 18 Nov. I couldn't wait that long or I couldn't function otherwise.

While I was battling joint pains the week before hubby's holiday trip, little one suddenly caught the flu bug and it took a week to clear. She was very miserable throughout, as she wasn't able to go school for 3 days; missed ballet class; and worse of all, a birthday party, and that burden was passed on to me. She really got on my nerves every second mummy this and mummy that and just wouldn't leave me alone. All these were additional stress thrust upon me and by Sunday I couldn't take it anymore, I just had to get out. Told hubby I needed a few hours off, and went to have a nice lunch with mum. I definitely was ready to get rid of the two of them by Monday morning. :D

What was meant to be a relaxing week, in which I was supposed to have more time to myself, turned out to be the opposite. Not only were there the joint pains to reckon with, my having to pick up little one from school every evening (as the school buses were filled to the brim and thus they couldn't take her on) made things worse. But really, from what I learn from the school administrator, that wasn't the case. I guess the bus company just didn't want to put themselves out, and besides I offended them once recently when I insisted that my girl was changed to another bus where the driver didn't smoke in it. Reluctantly, after threats by me, they changed her. So now I have to pay for that.

So I did manage to see the doc on Tuesday and was given a jab. However, a new problem presented itself in the right knee and it didn't help, that I needed to climb the stairs up the overhead bridge every evening on the way to school. I was in such pain, and it was really weird considering I had just had a jab two days prior. So all in, it wasn't a good week for me at all.

However, the week ended off rather well with a visit to the cinema to catch the premiere of High School Musical 3 on Friday and hubby was home early Saturday morning. There was then grandma's birthday dinner (where I made a mess of my marshmallow cake given that I didn't have enough time to chill it). But everyone was nice about it and called it a pudding cake. Well, at least they didn't spit it out.

And I made another marshmallow cake for B's birthday bbq on Sunday and made sure I had plenty of hours to chill it. I couldn't afford to embarrass myself in front of a whole lot of people (not family this time). And am glad it turned out well, and the birthday boy was happy. :) But I have learnt too, that cakes like these and bbqs do not go hand-in-hand as they melt easily in the heat and humidity. I have also learnt not to use sliced pineapples in it else is difficult to cut and messes up the cake. On top of the cake, I made a portion of chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache as I didn't think the main cake was big enough, and although KY said there's not that many people at the bbq, there were LOADS!

So I spent the whole of Sunday basically in the kitchen till it was time to leave for KY's. We didn't have lunch so I made some curry puffs with dough and fillings leftover from during the week, and ready hardboiled eggs from baby C's one-month-old cake box. They don't look very pretty as I am bad at pleating them, but who cares once they taste yummy, right? ;) I must make sure I buy a curry puff mould soon. Princess, who doesn't eat curry, loved it and said, 'I love mummy's curry puff'. Awww.... :D

Will type out the recipe when I have time again, but meanwhile need to take a walk down to the market to buy some fishballs for soup tonight. And incidentally, dinner's cooking itself in the magic pot so that's saved me some time today. ;)