Huaiyang Pastries 1 : Spiral Curry Puff

What're u eating? 在吃什么?

吃不饱的  想当SQ空姐.

Dozens boxes of Huaiyang pastries mainly with sweet fillings such as red bean paste I had devoured since the birth of a sweet tooth, however the culinary aspect of the pastry remained a mystery to me till I read Shoonyin Home Cooking. The reads educated me on the pastry's versatility and the dominance of the Huaiyang cuisine (四大菜系) in China culinary heritage. Soon the excitement send me to enroll in a scurry at the Prima Baking School where professional bakers (one excluded) are trained to prepare dim sum delicacies with this pastry. Two insanely popular snacks in Singapore: spiral curry puffs and siew baos shine through the local gastronomic sphere with the Huaiyang pastry encasing everyone's favourites - potato chicken curry, tomato lime sardines. Or prepare a sweet filling of kaya flavoured with salted yolks...a new sweet discovery.

tummy warming curry

Huaiyang pastry build on one similar fundamental with the western puff pastry; both pastries use the technique of fat lamination. From the pockets of air between the pastry sheets arise the layers of flakes in a hot oven. 

Chinese bakers took a step further to laminate the divided dough individually and through this laborious method creates more ways of rolling the smaller doughs and shaping them differently. And also through using different flours and fat proportions in both the water and oil doughs, a spectacular spread of bings饼 and baos包 are delicatedly crafted in different provinces of China: lao por bing老婆餅, tau sar piah, siew bao, char siew soh, tai yang bing 太陽餅, beh teh soh, phong piah, radish puff, mooncakes and the list goes on and on....a dynasty 朝代 that stills exists.  

Many home-bakers have a nagging interest in this pastry - often cumbersome being the main reason. But what they're ignorant of is that this technique brings a magical diversification of the final piece. 

oil dough in water dough

Shoon Yin  had penned down the dough preparation in details . It would be a waste of time and boring for me uploading similar information. While at my training stinct, some important do's and don'ts were highlighted and would be useful for those who are passionate over this pastry. A primary importance is not to wrap the water and oil doughs tightly, allows some gaps for the flakies to rise during baking. Another area to note down is allow the dough to rest at least 15 mins after lamination and the swiss rolling. Cover the doughs with plastic sheet to prevent dryness on the surface. I even rolled them in my lightly oiled palms before placing them under the plastic sheet. Lastly, pinch off the excess dough after closing up the edges otherwise the base of the bing is thick and not fine craftmanship.   

Use fork to combine flours and shortening   till crumbs-like. Add in the water to form soft dough. Do same for the oil dough except no water to be added.

In this curry puff recipe , I prefer not using any cake flour in the oil dough and use some bread flour in the water dough. I like the flakes to be sturdy and distinct. The fat proportion to flour that I'm recommending for this spiral dough is 30% and 50% for the water and oil dough respectively. 

Allows water and oil doughs to rest at least 1/2  hour.

Divide each dough into 4/6 portions and rolled them into balls.

Place oil dough in centre of water dough and seal loosely. Cover them and rest for 15 mins.

Roll the rested doughs into long rectangle and roll up like a swiss roll twice. Let the rolled up dough rest again 15 mins before the second roll. Rest another 15 mins after second roll in cool area or fridge. It's hard to roll into shape when the fat is melting, may even lose the flakes.

Rest another 15 mins covered before cutting it into two pieces.

close embrace

manipulation by sinister

Come discover me

Final stage is to get them  deepfry in hot oil. To get nice flakes, scoop them up after 30 seconds in the hot oil and cool for another 30 seconds. Repeat this dunking process three times . Continue the frying over low fire till light golden. Increase the fire just before lifting them from the oil. Drain them well.

Ingredients List:

Water dough :

50g bread flour

50g  top flour

1/8 tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

30g  shortening

45g water

Oil dough:

60g top flour

30g shortening

Quick Potato Chicken filling:

150g diced boiled potato

75g diced chicken breast

30g rough chopped onions

2 sprigs curry leaves shredded

50g instant chicken curry paste

3 tablespoons coconut milk

1 tsp soya sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp sea salt

Filling Directions:

• Stir fry the onion and curry leaves till fragant.
• Add in the curry paste and fry for 1 min.
• Then add in the chicken pieces, soya sauce, salt and sugar. 
• Cook for about 3 mins.
• Pour in the coconut milk and cook till lightly dry
• Cool thoroughly for use.

Food Quote:  一毛不拔鐵公鶏：”You can’t get a feather from iron cock.” Somebody very stingy and never give; or miser

Cook as to how you like to eat it, join me if we share the same taste. PaulaCookingFingers

Workshop available @ Palate Sensations Singapore 
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