When puffiness is good - veg puffs

It is really intriguing how a situation endears certain things to you. Puffs veg or otherwise was no big deal to me. But when I spent 45 days in Trivandrum learning the difference between a sada dosa and ghee roast, upma and appam, a sole egg puff was my highlight of the day. The opportunity presented itself only once a day during the snack hour in canteen of the training centre. A delay of 5-10 minutes would mean a wait of another day. A golden half of a boiled egg ensconced in the crumbly puff pasty with spices was something to savour. I am not sure it was the best I have ever had, in fact I have never had an egg puff since.

Recently I came across frozen puff pasty sheets in the supermarket. I know these sort of things are easily available in the market. But frozen section gets a boycott from both AS and me, other than peas and kulfi. I tried out a simple veg puff. Actually its just a potato puff, as an experiment. They turned out well and tasted yummy. I still need to work out the best way of storing them as they lose the crunch if whatever way I try to store them. They are very easy to make and set a real good impression.

I managed to get a light puff pastry roll. Disaster struck next time though, because I bought short crust pastry. So look closely before you buy. But then I am assuming that you rush through the frozen section as I do. In that section I always feel like the dementors from Harry potter are following me. All exuberance of a supermarket experience drains away and I am left with a overbearing preoccupation with the chill. Thankfully I can shop online without these diversions.

The filling for this pastry can be anything savoury. You can try mixed veg, paneer. This is just a template for anything you want to adapt it for. I tried with a really spicy potato mixture because it seemed to go well with the intended blandness of the puff. Also you need to resist the urge to overfill the parcels. Because you need to account for the fact that the puff will expand. I made morsel sized parcels. You can try bigger sizes , but then they would take longer to cook so adjust the timing accordingly.

Ingredients

2 big potatoes boiled and mashed

1 sheet of rolled puff pastry

1 onion sliced 

garam masala 1 table spoon

coriander powder 1 tbsp

red chilli powder 1 tsp

chat masala - according to taste

Cinnamon- 1 pinch(option)

Defrost the puff pastry.

Boil potatoes. Peel and mash them up. To hot oil in a pan add sliced onions. Cook them till they turn transparent. To this add coriander powder, garam masala, red chilli powder, amchur or chat masala. The pinch of cinnamon is optional. Add the mashed potato and mix well. Add salt to taste and let it cook for 10 mins.

I spread the mixture on a plate to let it cool quickly. While it is cooling, you can prepare the pastry. Roll out the sheet and cut vertical strips of about 4cm in width. Slice the vertical strips into squares. Spoon in about 1 teaspoon is the mixture in the middle. Bring the two diagonal ends of the pastry piece together. Have a little bit of water handy in a bowl. Slightly touch the two end with water and bring them together. This should seal the two ends together. If this feels difficult work, you can simply fold it lengthwise, or even bring the four ends together to make a parcel.

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. on a baking tray put foil paper and put the pastry parcels keep space between then because they are going to grow in size. For the size I have got here, it took 15mins. I knew the filling was cooked so all I looked out for was the layers of the puff rising up. When the top layer is turned a slightly darker shade than golden, it is time to take it out.

Spread them out on a cooling rack. I did not have one so I just put them on the place settings we use for crockery. The steel ones with slots. It is best to put it on something which allows the base to cool. Otherwise it gets soggy.

Since I have not yet worked out the best way to store them, I must ask you to savour some of them as soon as they cool.

I want to make the egg puff one of these days when intent and stamina are both in tandem. It was after an egg puff which started it all.