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Kitchen with Melissa Leong
Curry Puffs
Pasties, puffs, pies…anything that involves a savoury filling wrapped in flaky golden pastry creates a winning situation every time. Curry puffs are quintessential street food in places like South-East Asia, and growing up, it was all about that pocket of goodness as a treat when out doing the groceries with the parents. As with every recipe I write, this is simple and seriously
tasty. Make them tiny for cute little canapés or larger as lunchbox favourites.
Ingredients
1 packet of short crust pastry
300g pork mince
2 large potatoes, diced
1 small sweet potato, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 brown onion, diced
½ cup frozen peas
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tblsp curry powder mix
½ cup chicken stock
1tsp sugar
Salt to taste
Method
1. On medium heat, fry onions, garlic and mince.
2. Stir in the curry powder and continue to stir fry to cook the spices for a few minutes.
3. Add in the potatoes, sweet potato and carrots and combine.
4. Add the stock and simmer the mixture until the vegetables are al dente and the liquid has evaporated.
5. Add in the seasonings to taste.
6. Add the peas, remove the pan from the heat and allow the mixture to cool completely.
7. To cook, preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
8. Cut the pastry into squares, large enough to fit your desired amount of filling in, and once filled, fold into triangles.
9. Use a fork to seal the edges and brush the pastry with egg before putting in the oven.
10. Bake until the pastry turns golden.
Enjoy!
Melissa Leong www.fooderati.blogspot.com
Thoughts from a seasoned hospo
Jared Ingersoll
The article in this week's SMH Good Living about the true cost of the 'no-show' booking got me thinking about the hospitality industry...
In the article, Erez from Bistro Bruno in Balmain, who is known for 'naming and shaming' no-shows through Twitter, in the face of huge backlash, understandably says, "Our business is publicly audited by amateurs day in day out". So why should he not name and shame? It seems only fair.
While I do think it's fair, to be honest I don't know what the point would be. There are always going to be no-shows because we are dealing with humans. There's always going to be the 'got friends they want to impress so booked at three restaurants so they can choose on the night' cancellation types, but you are also going to have the 'baby sitter just cancelled' genuines.
Ask any seasoned hospo worker and they will tell you that we see all types – polite people, rude people, the gastronome, the connoisseur, the artisan, the pig-headed alpha male – the lot.
There are also people (thankfully a minority) who believe that the service industry is a God given right as opposed to a commercial service and feel that because they are being served, they have carte blanche for rudeness. But this rude minority really don't deserve the airtime they are getting. Sure, it's an issue to be aware of but can we move on now please, as I would really like to concentrate on you lot, the nice ones that we like who keep coming back. You are our favourites. In fact, if you come into Danks Street this week and tell the guys that you are one of Jared's favourites, I'll buy you a coffee!
