Hi everyone! This is a recipe for a Chinese curry puff pastry (jia li jiao) that I came up with in an effort to reproduce the curry pastries my dad used to bring home from Clement street in SF Chinatown after work. I have a lot of fun memories of eating way more of these things than I should have after school, and then not being hungry for dinner.
This version also dives into a puff pastry recipe made from scratch, which I discovered tastes pretty much the same as the store bought version. If you're short on time, I have also done these with frozen puff pastry dough, and they come out exactly the same. Hope you try it!
yields about 14-16
INGREDIENTS (filling)
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp ginger (about 1 inch)
1/2 medium onion
1/2 lb ground meat (beef or pork, ideally)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
kosher salt
2 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp water
1/3 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
vegetable oil
INGREDIENTS (dough)
4 1/4 oz AP flour
1/2 cup ice water
2 sticks butter, frozen
1 tbsp brown sugar
1tbsp sesame oil
150g water
1 egg
PREP (filling)
crush and mince the garlic, set aside
peel and mince the ginger, set aside
dice onions, set aside
combine corn starch and water to a slurry, set aside
season ground meat with soy sauce and kosher salt, mix to combine
add corn starch slurry and chicken stock to ground meat, and mix to combine
PREP (dough)
ROUGH CHOP one stick of frozen butter into tablespoons, and combine with the flour
KNEED by hand until a pebbly dough forms
STREAM ice water into dough slowly, while constantly agitating until a shaggy dough forms
WRAP the dough in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours
SHRED one stick of frozen butter, and refrigerate until ready
ROLL OUT the chilled dough and spread shredded butter
FOLD the dough over in two folds like a pamphlet
ROLL OUT the dough again and repeat until all butter is incorporated
REFRIGERATE the dough an additional 1-2 hours
ROLL OUT the dough and measure out a 3x3 grid, and cut the dough into 12 even squares
PLACE the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet, then chill until ready to use
ON THE STOVE (filling)
HEAT 2 tbsp vegetable oil on a wok as hot as possible
ADD garlic, and ginger, and saute until fragrant
ADD onions and season with a pinch of kosher salt, saute 1-2 minutes until translucent
ADD curry powder and turmeric and saute until fragarent
ADD ground meat and saute until browned, then remove from heat and set aside
ASSEMBLY
ADD 1-2 tbsp filling to each pastry square, then fold over into a triangle
CRIMP the edges shut with a fork
BRUSH each pastry with the egg wash until fully coated
BAKE in a 400 F oven for 15-20 minutes until golden