Fried Pastel

Among the favorite snacks i used to hunt when stopping at cake kiosk on traditional market are kue dadar (rolled pandan pancake with coconut and sugar filling), kue lapis (traditional layer cake made from rice flour), risoles (rolled pastry with ragout filling), pastel (wrapped fritters with fillings), kroket (local version of croquette), various puddings, and sometimes kue talam (nyonya rice cake). Those yummy things are perfect for weekend breakfast appetizer. Sometimes, there are days when i craved for fried pastels with sambal kacang (peanut chili sauce) in unlimited batch. That time i would beg mom to practice her recipe for me to nibbling.

This long weekend, after pausing for weeks, we would like to returned to kitchen and tried some pending recipes. I was searching mom’s sacred book recipe for pastel ingredients but could not located exactly. Lucky we have powerful google guru’s anyway. Few things i remembered from the mom’s recipe were i did not like the texture of the dough for it was crunchy after frying but just last for hours. The flour type might contribute in evoking the crunchy texture so i decided trying another flour usually used for making bread and noodles. The recipe was tweaking between my memories and the browsing recipes.

Served : 15 pcs

Dough
250 gr flour (high gluten preferable)
50 gr margarine
80 ml water
½ tsp salt

Filling
2 pcs potato
5 pcs carrot
250 gr fillet chicken breasts, diced
2 boiled eggs (cut thins)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 pack glass vermicelli, soak in water first
Nutmeg to taste
Pinch of Salt
Cooking oil

1. Diced half steamed potato and carrot separately. Heat frying pan, add oil and garlic follow by diced chicken and fry for 2-3 minutes until lightly coloured. Reduced heat, add potato and carrot. Stir in salt and nutmeg, follow by soak glass vermicelli. Sauteed until well done.

2. Mix the flour with margarine and salt first in larger bowl, then add water gradually until the mixture forming a ball. Knead for about 2-3 minutes, until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky.

2. Flour a work surface or counter. Gently pick quite amounts from the dough, and start knead with rolling pin until thins.

3. Use your small bowl or any circle objects between 4” to 5” diameter as dough cutter.

4. Place the wrapper flat in the palm of your hand, then using your other hand place 2-3 tsp of the filling mixture into the centre of the wrapper together with sliced boiled eggs. Bring the sides together to form a half moon shape and pinch the seam firmly to seal it in a pleat. The pleat style needs a lot of practice but you can use regular molding for easier pleat.

5. Deep fried, and served.

This time high gluten flour works better, no splitting dough and gives extra chewy texture to the wrappers without losing its crunchiness. Another thing, the surface looks more smooth without any crack or bubbling. I prefer this new recipes, and might try another practice later on.

For Sambal Kacang sauce :

Fried peanut
Sugar
Salt
Lemon
Ground chili

Blend the peanut until well managed, add sugar, salt, lemon and ground chili together. Served.