Curry puff
 | |
| Type | Snack |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and India United States |
| Main ingredients | Curry, chicken, potatoes |
Curry puff (Malay: Karipap, Epok-epok; Chinese: 咖哩角,咖哩饺; pinyin: gālí jiǎo; Template:Lang-th, RTGS: karipap, IPA: [karìːpáp]) is a Malaysian, Singaporean, and Thai snack. It is a small pie consisting of specialised curry with chicken and potatoes in a deep-fried or baked[1] pastry shell, and it looks like the Portuguese stuffed bread called Empanada. The curry is quite thick to prevent it from oozing out of the snack.
A common snack in the region, the curry puff is one of several "puff" type pastries with different fillings, though now it is by far the most common. Other common varieties include sardines and onions or sweet fillings such as yam.
Though differing in the type of pastry used, the shape and structure of the curry puff may suggest that it has its origins in the Cornish pasty.
Curry Puffs a very popular snack item in Indian Bakeries. Several variations of it are available based on the content of the puff, like Egg puff, chicken curry puff and Paneer puff.
Some varieties of the South Asian samosa are very similar to curry puffs.[citation needed]
China
Curry Puff in Malaysia had 2 versions, one with soft pastry smilar to the pie pastry, the other type was crispy which similar to Chinese deep fry dumpling in Fujian and Chaozhou region. The shape of the curry puff and folding of the pastry was identical to the chinese Jiaozi at some region. The crispy version was similar to the Jiucai He, 韭菜盒。 The only difference was the filling, instead it was curry potato, it was Chinese chieve. Usually the curry puff made by Chinese were crispy type, it also has the layers on the pastry identical to the Jiucai He. The thousand layer was a typical Chinese pastry where it can be see on many variety of cookie or snack in China.
Malaysia
In Malaysia, this snack is considered a Malaysian version of empanadas. Found in many stores, especially at Indian and Malay food stalls. Another Malay version of this snack is known as epok-epok and teh-teh which is smaller than the curry puff. Other varieties of the epok epok are filled with a half boiled egg instead of chicken. Another alternative is tinned sardines.
Manufacturers have developed a version of the curry puff that can be frozen and later reheated by the consumer. These are suitable for the export market and can be produced in volume for shipment to various regions, such as the Middle East, where there is demand. In addition, new fillings have been experimented with, including tuna and black pepper.
In Indian food stalls in Malaysia, it is quite common to find vegetarian curry puffs with potatoes, carrots and onions as fillings.
India
In almost all Indian Bakeries and Cafes, Curry puff are available as a quick snack along with Tea or Coffee. Multiple types are available based on the filling. Vegetarian Curry puff would contains a dry potato, onion and peas curry seasoned with regional spices. Egg puff usually does not contain curry but Egg curry puff would contain an onion and pea based curry. Similarly fillings based on Chicken, Fish, Mutton and Paneer are available.
United States
In the United states, Indian Bakery establishments usually make several types of curry puffs, samosas, cutlet, almond and cashew cookies along with several other pastries.
Singapore
Curry puffs are commonly seen in Singapore's Pasar Malams and other stalls in shopping centres. Additionally, the aforementioned epok-epok is a popular variation in some of Singapore's hawker centres, usually amongst Malay stalls. Alternatively, the more common type of curry puff has a thick or flaky English-style crust, with a mixture of Chinese and Indian styles in the filling.
They may also be categorized into hand-made or mass produced machine-made puffs. Both variations are popular in Singapore, although some might argue that the former is typically more delicious.
Other puff snacks modelled on the curry puff concept have also been introduced. For example, 1A Crispy Puff also sells puffs with yam, durian, corn, red bean, nata de coco, grass jelly, bird's nest and even custard fillings.
Besides the more "exotic" fillings mentioned, there are also more conventional flavours which are quite popular with the locals. These puffs are readily available in Singapore, which include sardine, black-pepper chicken and tuna fillings. For example, Pie Connection sells these hand-made puffs.
In Singapore, Old Chang Kee has been selling curry puffs for over 70 years and now has outlets all over Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Other well-known brands include 1A Crispy Puff and Sim Sun Pastries. Polar Puffs and Cakes introduced a version of the curry puff that uses Western puff pastry, which has a different taste and shape. This version of the curry puff can also be found at Delifrance in Singapore as Curry Chicken Feuillette.
Ingredients
- Curry powder
- Potatoes
- A small piece of hard boiled egg
- Meat, usually beef or chicken.
- Onions
- Cream Cheese, used mainly in Americanized variations of the food.
See also
References
