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

 

tagged with woo can cook, curry puffs, curry pastry, puff pastry, jia li jiao