Tandoori Curry Puff: Veg Puff Recipe

First Part: Instructions to prepare Tandoori Masala-

1. Take all whole spices in a small frypan, listed under spices required to make tandoori masala until dry fenugreek leaves.
2. Roast them on low heat stirring and tossing frequently until they begin to smell toasty and fragrant. The goal is to roast them through, not just on the surface, without burning them.
3. Switch off the heat and let them cool down to room temperature.
4. Transfer to a spice grinder and grind all the spices into powder.
5. Add smoked paprika powder, dry mango powder and asafoetida and run one more time for uniform blending.
6. Tandoori Masala is ready to use, keep it aside.

Second Part: Instructions to prepare Tandoori Filling-

1. Transfer Greek yogurt or strained yogurt (Check notes) to a large enough mixing bowl.
2. Add minced green chilies, minced ginger, salt and freshly prepared tandoori masala to Greek yogurt.
3. Give yogurt a good mix to incorporate all the spices together.
4. Now add all diced and chopped vegetable to yogurt mixture to marinate.
5. Coat all the vegetables fully and cover the bowl well with cling wrap.
6. Refrigerate the marinated vegetables for 30 minutes, so that all the flavor seeps into the vegetables. (No need to marinate the vegetables for longer time as we are going to cook the vegetable with all the goodness of tandoori flavor).
7. After 30 minutes of marination time, heat one tablespoon of mustard oil in a wide pan. I have used Mealthy nonstick pan as this is very good pan for everyday cooking.
8. When oil starts smoking lower the heat and transfer the marinated vegetable with all the yogurt mixture to pan.
9. Cook marinated vegetables on medium heat until all the liquid dries out and vegetables or tandoori curry is fairly dry to use as filling. Around 18-20 minutes.
10. Switch of the heat and sprinkle handful of chopped cilantro on top.
11. Tandoori curry is ready to use as filling for puff pastry. Keep it aside to cool down.

Third Part: Instructions to prepare tandoori vegetable Curry Puffs-

1. Also prepare two baking sheets with either parchment paper or Silicon baking liners and keep them aside.
2. In order to make puff pastry, thaw frozen puff pastry sheets overnight in refrigerator or leave one pastry at a time for about 20 minutes on kitchen counter top.
3. Once Puff Pastry is thawed, work quickly while it's still cold. Flour your countertop or working surface and roll out the pastry sheet to make it 15-20% larger.
4. With a pizza cutter or knife, cut the puffed pastry into 16 cut rectangles. 8 will be the bottoms of the puff pastry and 8 will be the top.
5. Take two cut pieces at a time roll them out further to make them even in size.
6. On one piece place a spoonful of tandoori vegetable curry filling, water the edges with the help of finger. Then place another piece of cut pastry on top of the first and Crimp the edges with the help of a fork to seal all goodness inside.
7. While shaping and filling, the remaining cut pieces may start to soften, to keep them cold, it would be better to keep them in refrigerator, to keep them cold while working on others.
8. Repeat the process until all pieces are filled.
9. Place all the filled pieces on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
10. Now brush the milk + butter wash on them followed by sprinkling of some sesame seeds.
11. Now Chill the filled puff pastries in the freezer for at least 20 minutes or up to 1 day.
12. When ready to bake Preheat oven at 380 degrees F for normal baking and at 340 degrees F for convection baking.
13. Bake the chilled tandoori vegetable curry puff pastries for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Make sure to rotate the baking sheet once or twice during bake time.
14. Remove puff pastries from the oven and allow to cool on the pan until ready to handle and serve.
15. Wrap each leftover puff pastry up tightly in plastic cling wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
16. Left over puff pastries can be warmed in toaster oven, or in air fryer at 200-degree F or in regular oven at 300-degree F for 5 minutes.

Air Fryng Instructions:

1. Follow steps until 8 point to fill the puff pastries. For air frying follow the below steps:
2. Place all the filled pieces on Cuisinart air fryer basket
3. Now brush the milk + butter wash on them followed by sprinkling of some sesame seeds.
4. Now Chill the filled puff pastries in the freezer for at least 20 minutes or up to 1 day.
5. No need to preheat the air fryer.
6. Air fry the chilled tandoori vegetable curry puff pastries at 300- degree for 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Make sure to rotate the fryer basket or rearrange the puff pastries in between the air frying process.
7. Remove puff pastries from Air fryer and allow to cool them on cooling rack until ready to handle and serve.
8. Wrap each leftover puff pastry up tightly in plastic cling wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
9. Left over puff pastries can be warmed in toaster oven, or in air fryer at 200-degree F or in regular oven at 300-degree F warming for 5 minutes.