Healthy Kitchen Smells Fresh

Baked Karipap - served with hot tea

Karipap or curry puff is one of the most favorite savories among Malaysians – Malay, Chinese , Indian and others, we all love it. If I am not wrong, people from South Malaysia and Singaporeans call karipap as epok-epok. Basically, it is a mini pie with meat potato curry filling. Sometimes with black pepper meat or shrimp and veggie filling or just tuna; either way works great. The crust/wrapper made from all purpose flour, water and butter/oil/shortening ( to crisp them up) just like making pie crust . Divide the dough to small balls, roll them up, spoon the filling in the middle, wrap and crimp and ready to swim in the pre-heated oil. For more variation, puff pastry dough is also used as a wrapper and we call it spiral curry puff . Long story short, this great snack is easy to make and very fulfilling to be savored and definitely make your day.

Since my husband loves karipap, I make this mini pie almost once per 2 months.. I personally make my karipap wrapper with oil and alhamdulillah, it has never failed me… so far! I make 2 batches of the recipe I’ve been using since the first time I made my own karipap , Thanks a gazillion to mom for the great recipe. It yields 30 to 40 karipaps alhamdulillah – depending on size. It sounds a looottt for 2 eaters…don’t get me wrong.! We don’t eat the whole batch at a time, I freeze them for later light snacking. It usually last us 1 to 2 months or longer.

The final process making the karipap is.. of course to cook them. Deep frying freaks me out, to be honest, I am not much of a deep fryer.. I do deep fry , but only 1 -2 times per month.. yes, I count it! Avoiding deep frying in making Malaysian snacks or savories seemed impossible. Totally giving up those signature Malaysian ‘kuih’ is even more impossible to me .So one day, hubby suggested to bake those karipap in the oven.. Thanks to him!! It sounded appealing and was I down to it . The result we got was as crisp but slightly dry compared to the deep fried one yet still moist from the inside and delicious.The most important thing is I finally get a tasty non-hydrogenated oiled and less guilt karipap.. alhamdulillah! Eversince, we use the same method when making karipap over and over again. See.. It’s now possible to enjoy Malaysian pie without having to fry ‘em.

Now, the only problem people might get confused with is crimping the edge of your karipap. You can actually pinch the edge with fork or get a karipap cutter , easy right? However, I am not certain if karipap cutter is available outside Malaysia and Singapore . I will try to search and post a photo of the cutter mentioned here. I myself crimp the edge to make it look pretty and more traditional. Yes I admit, crimping karipap is challenging at first but believe me, it will develop very quickly. InsyaAllah, I will try to create a video on how-to’s .

Enough about my version of karipap’s ‘wiki’ , why don’t we go straight to the recipe.

Hot karipap

Karipap or Curry Puff

Ingredients:

Dough:

2 ¼ Cups All Purpose flour (approximately 260grams)

2 Tbsp rice flour

1 Tbsp cornstarch

A pinch of salt

1/3 Cup oil

1/3 Cup plus 1-2 Tbsp water ( Ice cold would be great ) – See Notes

Method :

Stir together salt and flour. Slowly pour the oil and water in the flour and continue to mix them together to achieve a consistency of not sticky or crumbly dough, if crumbly, add 1-2 tbsp. water. Set aside for 20 – 30 minute to let the gluten rest. DO NOT overwork the dough. (See Notes)

Divide the dough to 12 portions ( if making small size karipap) and roll with your hand until a small ball dough is formed. Ready to prepare the karipap.( See preparing karipap below)

Filling :

½ Lbs ground beef, ground chicken or my favorite, chopped shrimps
1 large yellow onion , diced

2 medium potatoes , peeled and cubed

1 carrot , cubed
2 stalks green onion and Chinese celery , chopped

2 Tablespoons Korma spice powder

2 Tablespoons ground black pepper

1 Teaspoon ground white pepper
1 Tablespoon coriander powder
1 Teaspoon cumin powder
1 Tablespoon fennel powder
salt to taste

2 Tablespoons canola oil

Method : In a medium pan, drizzle the cooking oil and heat on medium high heat . Add the diced onion and sauté until fragrant.

Add in ground meat of choice and continue stirring until half cooked. Then add all ground spices ( korma, black and white peppers, cumin, coriander , fennel) and the diced potatoes and stir every 2 minutes until potatoes are tender then start adding cubed carrots, green onions and Chinese celery .

Add salt and ground black pepper if necessary. When cooked, remove from heat and let it cool. ( See Notes)

Preparing karipap
Roll flat the dough. . ( not too thick or too thin)

Spoon the COOLED filling in the middle of the flat dough.

Fold over and crimp the edge of the dough to seal in the filling. Repeat the whole process with the remaining dough.

Fry in preheated oil till golden brown or like I do, bake in preheated 350F (170C) oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown . Make sure you flip the other side over half way through. so the karipaps are cooked evenly.

Prebaked karipaps ready to hybernate in the freezer.

Make ahead : You can make karipap ahead by pre baking for 15 minutes or until light brown. Pop out, let it cooled and place in freezer/Ziploc bag, freeze it. It last for 3-4 months …may be more. Whenever you feel like snacking with it, thaw the frozen karipap for 30 minutes at room temperature or couple hours in the fridge.. pop in the oven or deep fry until golden brown and ready. Easy peasy!!

Comparing baked karipap (top) and deep fried karipap (bottom)

Fried Karipaps

Notes Of The Day:

1. Using ice cold water is preferable because it retards the gluten (protein) development to your dough and makes the crust/wrapper crunchy and flaky.
2. Overwork the dough means overdevelop the gluten in the flour and may end up with tough and soggy karipap.. you don’t want that.
3. Making sure the filling is completely cooled to avoid it oozes out while frying or even before frying, it’s not pretty to see your karipap get torn here and there.
4. For crisper baked karipap, use vegetable shortening or butter if you don’t mind once in a while higher fat snacks.. I don’t mind too!! or if you can get non-hydrogenated butter will be great – I am not sure in any other countries, but in the US and Canada.. non-hydrogenated oil butter and trans-fat free shortening can be easily found in local grocery stores and organic stores.