I may have a certificate in making pastry but I recommend this to those who think its laborious to produce pastry dough that literally can reduce you to tears (especially if you aint got the rolling machine at home). Layering effect is achieved through several rolling, and overnight stay in freezers, in addition to minding the foldings.



Tears no more! If you wish to be a quickie pastry-chef, let me share this with you, which I stumbled upon and have since tried several ways to enjoy pastries.

I am sure you know what is frozen prata? You can buy this at any Asian supermart, its an Indian pastry dough and its round, thats usually fried and eaten with curry. In supermarts, the pack comes in 5 pieces or 10 pieces,in some markets, even more, so cheap too. With these dough, you can produce puffs whether baked or fried, whether its curry puffs, tuna puffs, apple puffs, and a favourite filling of mine which has no name, mashed potato/eggs/onions)

Recipe 1 - Curry Puffs (Filling: Dice potatoes and boil. Add onions, curry powder, salt, minced meat if you like. Take a piece of prata dough, add filling on one side, and fold into semi-circle. Clip the edges manually with finger tips or use fork to press down but ensure there is eggwash underneath. Using the fork, poke some holes on the top to let out the air, and then eggwash to get that yellow effect after baking).

You can do this with tuna or any other fillings of your choice. Go with your tastebud. You can fry as well, but ensure that this is done over very low heat, and no need to egg-wash or poke holes.

Recipe 2 - My own filling with no name. (Boil potatoes and mash, add chopped onions, eggs, salt, pepper and mix well. Take 2 pieces of prata, load the filling on to one piece and use the other prata to cover it, clip the edge with fingers. Fry over low heat and turn the other side to ensure the filling is cooked properly. A useful tip is to not allow the frozen prata to defroze too much cos it can become limpy and hard to manage). Frozen prata is usually meant to be fried frozen, so not a problem.

Recipe 3 - Sweet filling (I havent tried this, but my training in pastry tells me, this should work well with the likes of apple strudel filling). Prata is traditionally a savoury, but it shouldnt stop you from trying it all.

The idea is , if you have always wished to produce pastry puffs, this is a nice alternative.

Good luck