Ingredients
Yields: 12 currypuffs
Pumpkin curry
- ½ small pumpkin/kabocha squash - ~250g pumpkin flesh; I got mine from
K Fresh - 45 ml vegetable oil - or any other neutral oil
- ½ onion - diced
- 2 garlic cloves - minced
- 5 g meat curry powder
- 2 g turmeric powder
- 1 chicken breast - ~150g
- 10 g brown sugar
- 2 g salt
- 0.5 g black pepper
Dough
- 120 ml oil
- 400 g all-purpose flour
- 150 ml water
- 2 g salt
- 1 egg - for eggwash
Method
Dice pumpkin
- Wash your pumpkin or squash and remove its skin with a knife. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon and discard them. Slice the pumpkin flesh into 1cm-thick cubes or smaller, and set it aside.
Make pumpkin curry
- Pour the oil into a pan or shallow pot, and place it over medium heat. Put the diced onion into the pan, and sweat it for 3-5 minutes, until slightly translucent. Add in the minced garlic, and saute for a further 1-2 minutes. Then, add in the curry powder and turmeric powder, mixing and sauteing for another 1 minute, until the fragrance of the curry fills the kitchen air. Then, add in the chicken breast, together with the diced pumpkin, brown sugar, salt, and black pepper. Stir this all until the chicken and pumpkin are evenly coated in the curry mixture. Turn the heat down to low, then cover the pan and let this cook gently for 12-15 minutes, until the pumpkin just cooks through but isn’t mushy. When done, give the curry a taste and add more salt if you desire. Then, transfer the curry to a bowl and let it cool down to room temperature, before chilling it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. (You could also make this the day before.)
Make dough
- For the dough, heat up the oil in a pan until piping hot (but not smoking; anywhere from 100-150°C is good). Then, in a bowl, combine the flour and salt, and pour the hot oil into it. Then, with a fork or spatula, stir the oil-flour mixture together until it forms lumpy, sandy pieces. Then, add in the water, and mix everything together for 2-3 minutes, until they form a smooth dough. (If the dough is overly dry or wet at this stage, feel free to adjust with more flour or water.) Cover the dough with a cloth or kitchen towel, and let it rest for 30 minutes. (You could also keep it in the refrigerator overnight.)
Baking prep
- Line a sheetpan or flat baking tray with baking paper. Heat an oven to 180°C, ready to bake the currypuffs in.
Fill currypuffs
- Split the dough into 55g pieces. (You should be able to get a dozen portions.) Then, working with one dough at a time, roll the dough out into a long log (roughly 15cm long), curl the log up into a snail shell-like spiral, tucking the end into the middle. Using a rolling pin, roll out this spiral into a circular dough disc roughly 8cm in diameter. (If you’re confused by this method, feel free to just roll it out into a ball and press it out into a round disc.) Spoon a tablespoon of curry (~50g) into the middle of the dough, and fold the dough over to form a semicircle pouch. Seal the edges, and crimp it to secure the filling. Then, using a pair of scissors, cut out two eyes and a mouth for a jack-o’-lantern face on your currypuffs. Repeat this for all of your dough and currypuff, then lay them all out onto the lined baking tray, with at least 1cm of gap in between each currypuff.
Bake currypuffs
- Make an eggwash by beating an egg in a bowl. Then, brush a thin layer of this eggwash onto each currypuff. Bake the currypuffs in the oven for 30-35 minutes, until they’re golden.
Serve and eat
- When they’re done baking, remove the tray of currypuffs from the oven and let it cool down for 5-10 minutes. The currypuffs are best eaten while they’re still warm, though they also keep well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you’re storing them for later, just reheat them in the oven or toaster for 5 minutes at 180°C before eating.
