Chicken Puff – Kerala Style | Video

Chicken puff (Kerala style). With chicken cooked with spiced onion mixture, these puff pastry parcels are packed with a ton of flavor. Perfect as a snack or light meal!

If you love buttery, flaky layers of puff pastry, I want to tell you all about a must-try snack recipe that pairs perfectly with your afternoon tea. But before we go to the recipe, a little about this much-loved snack.

Whenever I visit my hometown, apart from the massive shopping spree, my second favorite thing to do is visiting the local bakery. And I never leave the bakery without a few of these traditional puffs. The lip-smacking chicken masala encased in buttery flaky pastry is to die for.

Basically, puffs are puff pastry parcels packed with your favorite filling. You can either go the traditional way adding the classic favorites like chicken, egg, vegetables or meat, or customize the filling to meet your taste. And today, I want to recreate one of my favorite classic version- chicken puff.

Alright, to the recipe. The flavored shredded chicken is the key ingredient here. It’s important that you make these puffs with chicken pieces (boneless or bone-in) and not with minced or ground chicken for maximum flavor. If using chicken pieces with bone, make sure you discard the bones before adding them to the pastry. I also love to use shredded rotisserie chicken when time-poor.

I marinated chicken with a simple combo of ground turmeric, ground coriander, garam masala and red chili powder. And don’t forget the salt. Now, you can cook marinated chicken anyway you want – pan fry, grill, bake, poach. But my favorite method is the ultimate time saving cooking equipment on the planet – pressure cooker. Not only does it saves time, but it also seals in the flavor to deliver tender and succulent chicken.

As the chicken cooks, the incredibly delicious and flavorful juice also oozes out which I usually use at a later stage of the cooking process. Reserve this cooking liquid. Now, coming back to the chicken, lightly shred them discarding all the bones. Keep this aside while we move on to the next part of this chicken puff recipe.

Next up, we’ll make a quick spicy onion mixture to go with the shredded chicken. Again, more and more flavors. To make this mixture, you’ll need to sauté onions with ginger, garlic and green chilies until they are soft. A little bit of ground spices also go in to make it super flavorful. Lightly fry ground turmeric, ground coriander, garam masala and fennel powder.

Obviously, the shredded chicken is totally addicting on its own, but we’ll make it totally irresistible by adding it to the onion mixture. At this stage the chicken mixture might be a tad dry. And this is where the reserved cooking liquid comes in. Add in a small amount of reserved liquid to make the mixture slightly moist.

Finally, to make this chicken puff, cut each puff pastry sheet into rectangles. Fill them with chicken mixture and bake to perfection.

Yield: 18

Chicken Puff - Kerala Style | Video

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The perfect snack featuring spicy chicken mixture encased in flaky puff pastry

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

Marinate chicken:

• 500 g chicken (I used boneless)
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric (turmeric powder)
• 1 tsp ground coriander (coriander powder)
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• Salt to taste

Chicken mixture:

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 cup onions, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp minced ginger (ginger paste)
• 1 tbsp minced garlic (garlic paste)
• 2 green chilies, chopped
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric (turmeric powder)
• 2 tsp ground coriander (coriander powder)
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 1/2 tsp ground fennel (fennel powder)

Chicken puff:

• 3 ready-rolled puff pastry sheets, thawed
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200C / 400F. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
2. Place chicken, ground turmeric, ground coriander, garam masala and red chili powder in a bowl. Season with salt. Coat chicken in the spices. Pan fry chicken. (Alternatively, cook chicken in a pressure cooker). Reserve the cooking liquid. Allow chicken to cool slightly. Shred. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onions, ginger, garlic and green chilies. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until onions are soft. Add ground turmeric, ground coriander, garam masala and fennel powder. Sauté, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
4. Stir in shredded chicken. Stir fry for 1 minute. If the mixture is too dry, add a little reserved cooking liquid, and cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool slightly. Set aside.
5. Place thawed puff pastry sheet on a flat surface. Cut each sheet into 6 rectangles. Place 2 tbsp of chicken mixture in the middle of each rectangle. Fold the rectangle into halves. Seal edges using water. Press down with fingers to seal properly.
6. Transfer pastries on to the prepared baking trays. Leave a little space between them. Brush with beaten egg. Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Notes

- You can add vegetables like potatoes, carrots and green peas to the chicken mixture if you like

Nutrition Information

Yield

18

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 99Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 36mgSodium 63mgCarbohydrates 3gFiber 1gSugar 1gProtein 8g

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• Chicken Sausage Rolls
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• Chicken Spring Rolls
• Butter Chicken Samosa
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