Curry puffs

Here’s another vegan recipe. This one is particularly versatile and loved by all. Even my children love it so it’s a good way to get them to eat lentils. It’s also good party food when you cut the puff pastry into bite-sized triangles. The only negative is that it can be time-consuming, especially if you’re making the party bites because it takes time to make them. But they freeze well so you can make them in advance up to the part when you cook them in the oven and instead, pop them in the freezer. Then when you’re ready to eat them, put them directly into the oven from frozen and you’ve got delicious curry puffs in about 20 minutes.

Lentil Curry Puffs
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1 cup brown lentils (no need to soak)
2 onions
3 cloves garlic
1 dessert spoon curry powder
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
puff pastry (I buy this and I buy a vegetarian brand that is free from dairy but feel free to use whatever you like or if you’re feeling adventurous, you can make it yourself)
Optional: I usually add some vegetables like grated carrot, spinach, silverbeet or kale.

Cook the lentils first until soft then drain. This will take about 40 minutes but there’s no need to soak them overnight. Fry the onions in vegetable oil until browned. Don’t rush this. Fry them for about 10 minutes then add garlic and fry for another minute or so. Add lentils and then curry powder, soy sauce and sugar. (You may wish to vary the amounts of curry powder and soy sauce, depending on taste. I don’t put salt in this either because the soy sauce I use already has sufficient in it, but if you like it salty, you might want to add some). Then add the other vegetables and simmer for 10 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool a little. Cut the pastry into squares. I cut it into quarters or ninths, depending on whether I want big ones or little ones. Then spoon the mixture into each square and fold them over to make triangles.

Then bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 180°C.

If you want to freeze them, you will need to spread them out on a plate or tray otherwise they’ll stick together in the freezer. I usually stack them in layers on a plate with the layers separated by greaseproof paper. Then put the whole plate in a bag of some sort to stop them drying out. Once they’re frozen, you can remove the plate and the paper and pop them all in one container or bag.

This recipe makes 12 large curry puffs or 27 party bites or a combination of each if you prefer. This is enough for two meals for a family of four.