Curried prawn puffs

When mallu's talk about puffs, there's always a nostalgic story attached to it- would have had it for tea after school, would be from a favourite bakery in the neighbourhood, was lovingly made by mom etc. I, have none of those memories!

I was not really fond of those bakery snacks except for a few and given a choice I used to prefer cupcakes, cookies and the like, which i think my mum also preferred making, not to mention she was great at it. So our tea time snacks were really innovative cakes, sandwiches, bakes, milkshakes etc etc. On those rare occasions my mum used to get vada or ethakka appam, I used to create such a fuss. Fast forward to about 20 years later and here I am in a foreign country craving the dry egg puffs we used to get at this bakery called Jayaram bakery in Trivandrum.

Karma is a bitch.

So anyways, I couldn't just hop over to a bakery here and ask for egg puffs which meant i had to make it and make i did, plenty of times. I've since experimented with chicken, beef and prawn puffs and of the 4 the prawn being my favourite is making its way through to the blog after ages. It tastes good, is perfect with tea and freezes well. Sold!

Recipe has been adapted from Shabs, whose prawn filling is one I've tried lots of times and its so versatile and can be used as a filling for anything and everything and also tastes great with rice and rotis. I prefer making them with the tiny prawns as i feel they taste glorious.

Makes 8

Prawn (the small variety)- 200 gms

Kashmiri chilli powder- 1 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Salt- to taste

Coconut oil- 2 tbsp

Onions- 2, finely chopped

Garlic- 5 cloves

Ginger- 1 tbsp, roughly chopped

Green chilli- 2

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Fennel powder- 1/2 tsp

Pepper powder- 1/2 tsp

Garam masala- 1/4 tsp

Coriander leaves- 1/4 cup

Grated coconut- 1/4 cup
Salt- to taste

Ready rolled puff pastry- 1 sheet

Egg- 1 small, for egg wash

Marinate the prawn with the chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt and keep aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients

Heat oil in a pan and sauté the onions till they become soft and translucent.

Grind together the garlic, ginger and green chilli and add to the onion. Saute for a further 5 minutes on medium heat, or till the raw smell disappears.

Add the salt, turmeric, fennel and pepper powders and saute for a couple more minutes before adding the marinated prawns along with the garam masala, coriander leaves and grated coconut, and mix it all together.
Remember, prawn cooks really fast, so make sure you don't keep it on for too long.
Once the prawns are cooked and the flavours have all been infused, take it off the heat and leave aside to cool.

Pre heat the oven to 200C and line a baking tray with baking paper
Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle sheet.
Cut into half and divide the pastry into 8.
Take a tbsp of the prawn filling and place into the centre of each cut pastry sheet.
Wet the edges with water lightly and seal the pastry properly.
Place on the baking tray and do an egg wash and bake for about 15 minutes or till the pastry has become golden brown.
Remove from oven and leave aside to cool for a couple of minutes before digging in.

 

Notes: I have made the same using 1/4 cup thick coconut milk instead of the grated coconut and must say the coconut milk won with regard to taste. The grated coconut however lends a bite.
My oven gets really hot so it was done in about 13 minutes and as you can see i ended up browning them a bit too much.
Use shredded chicken for a chicken version.
They freeze really well, do it before the egg wash (clearly!). and then dont even thaw, just do the egg wash and bake. Of course it will need to be in the oven longer.