Chicken Puffs

Chicken Puffs

Spicy Chicken Masala

Minced chicken cooked with lots of spices and veggies makes a delectable filling to satisfy your carvings. I usually sneak in a bit of veggies into our meat dishes, so the use of beans and carrots.

Ingredients

2 cups chicken, cooked and minced

2 tablespoon oil

2 cups onion, finely sliced

1 ½ medium tomato, chopped

1/3 cup coriander, chopped

handful curry leaves, torn to small pieces

1 green chili, sliced

1/3 cup green beans, finely sliced

1/3 cup carrot, finely grated

3 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste

1 ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder

1 ½ teaspoon garam masala powder

pinch turmeric

1 ½ teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon pepper powder

1 teaspoon fennel powder

2 teaspoon meat masala (I used Nirapara)

juice of one small lime

salt, to taste

generous splash water

Directions

For the meat, I cooked 2 chicken breasts with salt to taste, ½ teaspoon pepper powder, ½ teaspoon fennel powder and a pinch of turmeric. Then the meat was drained and minced by hand. You may use a food processor to pulse-process the chicken, if you like. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium-low heat. Add onions and stir-fry for 10-15 minutes or until the onions become translucent and a bit brown. Add ginger–garlic paste, sliced chili and curry leaves and cook for 1 minute, before adding the tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes until soft and pulpy, about 3-4 minutes. Then add carrot and bean and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Tip in turmeric, coriander, chili, fennel and pepper powders and cook for 1 minute more. Season with salt. Now, tip in the minced meat; add garam masala and meat masala powders. Drizzle with lime juice and stir fry everything together for 3-4 minutes adding a generous splash of water to keep the masala moist. Finally add the chopped cilantro, mix well and cook for two more minutes. Before you take off the heat, you can add a drizzle of coconut oil for an authentic Kerala taste, if you like.

Ingredients 

10 square puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

chicken masala, as needed

Directions

Thaw the pastry squares, as needed, separating the sheets and laying them on a tray lined with parchment paper, at room temperature. Thaw until completely and evenly moist, but not dry. With the high heat index, it usually takes me around 30-45 minutes.

Heat the oven to 375^oF or 190^oC.

Meanwhile, trim the sides of the pastry with a sharp knife, to make smaller squares, if you like. Don’t worry about wasting pastry—you can put them to great use with a simple, yet delectable recipe. Just scroll down toward the end of this post to have a sneak view.

For rectangular shapes, spread the mixture lengthwise over half of the dough to within ½ inch of edges. Then, fold dough over the filling, and pinch or press the edges together to seal. Use a fork, if you like.