Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Curried onion egg puffs

What do you do 3 or 4 days prior to going on holiday for 10 days, when you have vegetables and fruit in the refrigerator? You use 'em or you lose 'em. Since I hate to lose 'em, I've been using 'em as much as possible. But yesterday evening when a couple of friends dropped by, there wasnt much to offer by way of gracious hostessing. I had three eggs, one 400gm pack of thawed puff pastry, nearly past its use-by date, two tomatoes and two large, slightly soft onions. What to do, what to do?



Egg puffs with curried onions, that's what. A bit of nostalgia crept in at that point, making me remember the many, many times that my friends and I, while working in The Indian Express newspaper in Madras, had walked down to Spencer Plaza and its popular snack corner.

I dont know about the others, but for me the air-conditioned, cool interior of Spencer Plaza was as much a draw as the food available there. Stepping into the coolness was indescribably blissful after the blazing heat outside - and then the aroma of the various food items would hit you, making your mouth water. I would always head for the Punjabi samosas and my friend would make just as straight a beeline for the egg puffs. I dont know why, but that simplest of fillings was what she found most appealing.

It appealed to my friends too.

Recipe for:
Curried onion egg puffs

Ingredients:

400gm puff pastry
3 large hard-cooked eggs - cooled, shelled and cut in half length-wise
2 large onions, sliced thin
1/2 tsp garam masala/pav bhaji masala
1/2 tsp crushed cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp oil
1 tsp red chilli powder or 2-3 fresh green chillies, chopped fine (optional)
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan, toss in the cumin seeds, coriander powder and green chillies (if using).

2. Stir-fry for 30 seconds or so, then add the onions and cook them on medium low until they start turning light brown and are semi-transparent.

3. Add the garam masala/pav bhaji masala and salt, stir well.

4. While the cooked onions are cooling, roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 1/2-cm thick.

5. Cut the pastry into 6 strips about 3-1/2 inches wide by 5 inches long (approx).

6. Place a tablespoon of the onions on a strip and then a half of boiled egg, cut side down.

7. Moisten the edges of the strip with a little water and fold the strip so that it encloses the egg.

8. Press down on the edges to seal, and make a fluted pattern with a fork, if you like.



9. Continue until all the eggs are used up.

10. Preheat the oven to 200C, place the puffs on a baking sheet and cook till the pastry is golden brown on top.



11. Let it rest for 5 minutes, then serve with tomato ketchup for a quick snack, or with a side salad for a light meal.


25 comments:

Mika said...

I love egg puffs. Yours look scrumptious. The ones I have had also had potatoes in the filling.

Anonymous said...

Shammi..they look absolutely mouth watering. My favorite snack food during college years was fresh baked egg puffs and potato curry puffs. I think I can eat the whole batch you prepared, that much I love them.

Shammi said...

Indira, Mika, thanks for your comments :)

S, my favourite thing from Adyar Bakery was the spicy masala popcorn that was sold outside! :) Of course I liked the puffs and one particular sweet, which I knew as "apple cake" - round brown balls that looked like they'd been rolled in coconut flakes.

Mika said...

Yum, I remember the apple cake. It was so moist and sweet. There was also a sweet, orange colored honey cake square that was sprinkled with coconut.

Anonymous said...

Hi Shammi,
Savoury puffs are one of my favorites, and your onion egg puffs look incredibly scrumptious and easy to make. What a great way to use up the ingredients in the fridge! :)

Anonymous said...

How long should I have to bake them in the oven? 10 mts? 15 mts?

My husband loves savoury puffs and I want to surprise him this weekend with this recipe.

Willowtree said...

I definitely have to try making these this weekend. They look yummy :).

Shammi said...

Dear Anonymous,

Sorry I couldnt reply sooner - was away on holiday and didnt have access to the Internet. Anyway, bake the puffs for about 15 minutes or till the tops are golden brown. Hope you made the puffs w/o waiting for this input! :)

Shammi

Anonymous said...

Dear Shyamala,

Thanks much for replying to my post and no problem about the delay. I will try making them this weekend.

We attended a B'day party last Saturday and my friend(the hostess) gave us so much food that I did not have to cook for 2 days. I still have enough snacks (milagai bajji and pakoda) to last another day or two.

So, I did not try the puffs but I did make beans paruppu usili. It reminded me of the wonderful days in Chennai when I enjoyed paruppu usili, avial, adai, mor kuzhambu etc..(amma samayal)

I will let u know how the puffs turn out.

Thanks again,

Krithika(U don't have to call me anonymous anymore, :) )

Anonymous said...

These are addictive. I made some- they were so easy to do and so good! Packed some up to take for lunch-this recipe is a winner. Thanks.

brownbreadicecream said...

Mmm, your photos remind me of the curry puffs my mom makes--love the boiled eggs part. What am I going to do? It's 1:30am and I haven't any puff pastry! Argh.

Shammi said...

Hi Krithika,

Nice to have a name now :) Would be better still to have a face! ;) And guess what, I have milagai bajji at home as well - a kind friend bought some for me from my fave sweet-shop in Birmingham!

Shammi said...

Hi Rachel, I've had puff-pastry shortage emergencies too ;)

Anonymous said...

Hi Shyamala1

I tried these yesterday and they came out very good. I also gave them an egg wash and it turned out very well.

Thanks much for posting this.

Krithika

Anonymous said...

Krithika, it's great to hear that the recipe turned out well :)

Anonymous said...

hi shyamala
the recipe is well explined. i live in the uk. where can i get the puffs pastry from?
indu

Anonymous said...

Hi Indu

You can get ready-made puff pastry in any supermarket - Tesco, Asda, Safewaym etc. The puff pastry is usually found near the butter and cheese aisles. Have fun making the egg puffs :)

Anonymous said...

hi shammi,
thanks i'll definitely try this
indu

Anonymous said...

hi shammiji,

I bumped in to your blog yesterday. U r recipes are very good. Especially this egg puffs made me nostalgic. Will definitely try this out.Hope we get this puff pastry in US as well.

Thanks once again.

Roopa

Rajani Rayudu said...

Hi Shammi
Tried your Egg puff. They are very tasty. Thank you for the recipe. Check it out my blog to see them.
cheers
rajani

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Anonymous said...

thank you very much for this recipe....

Anonymous said...

This recipe looks very good.I want to try this for my kid & hubby.I searched for puff pastry in wallmart and other grocery stores bUt i could not find.please let me know where do i get it

Anonymous said...

thanks it was perfect.

Laavanya said...

Thanks for this great recipe. I made these yesterday and we loved them.