Epok-epok or curry puff is without a doubt one of our favourite snacks. What is epok-epok? Firstly the term epok-epok is the Singapore Malay name for this snack while in Malaysia where is it also commonly found, it is known as karipap. Epok-epok is a dough-encrusted snack with a savoury filling and deep fried to golden brown perfection. The most common filling for curry puff in Singapore and Malaysia is curried potatoes. The curry puff is part of Singapore’s food identity and we love our snacks, especially when it’s hot out of the oil after frying! The curry puff’s origins can be traced back to the region’s colonial history. From its humble roots of being sold in glass-cabinet trishaws to large stall fronts in markets, the epok-epok is a must for tea time, accompanied by a hot beverage of your choice.
Epok-epok is normally stuffed with potato fillings sometimes with a neatly sliced wedge of hard-boiled egg. The filling is encased in a light and flaky pastry shell which is crimped and pinched by hand to seal its edges, creating a very pretty, weaved pattern. Other variations of the filling include spicy sardines, sometimes a mix of vegetables or sayur like beansprouts. In Singapore, you can easily find an epok-epok stall in our many hawker centres. You would normally find a makcik (or auntie) who will be rolling and filling up the dough, while another makcik or pakcik (a male aunty, oops an uncle) may be frying them in large batches.
My late aunt Aminah, made the BEST epok-epok ever. She was a homemaker, and she used to make them for family gatherings and parties. Aunt Aminah was my mother’s eldest sister and would’ve been close to 80 years old today had she not succumbed to cancer several years ago. Till today, I have not found any epok-epok close to hers. Her epok-epok is made with just the right amount of spices and the perfect combination of potatoes and other veggies. Her filling was rich and savoury, not sweetened with any sugar. The pastry she made was crisp and with the right amount of bite. Her crimping was just maddeningly even. And each epok-epok was consistent in size, shape and form as if they were machine-made. They were a thing of beauty. Her cooking was legendary and writing this makes me miss her so much.
Even though the origins of the epok-epok is a bit fuzzy, it was probably introduced to the region during the times of Maritime Southeast Asia. I am sure somewhere along the way, with inter-marriages between cultures, sharing each other’s food, resulted in the epok-epok. Today, epok-epok comes with various fillings, accommodating Singaporeans’ taste buds and keeping up with the latest trends, with flavours such as durian, nasi lemak, beef rendang and many others.
Making epok-epok from scratch can be time-consuming, but you can easily purchase frozen ones at the supermarket. This is a major life hack, especially when you have unannounced guests over. Just drop some of those frozen bad boys in a wok or deep pan with hot oil.
For today’s recipe, I will be making epok-epok with the classic filling of curried potatoes. Doing something like this from scratch is very much like therapy and I love it. I just love the whole process of making the filling to my liking. I love kneading and rolling the dough. I love crimping the edges together. Even though they may not be perfect (these will NEVER beat aunt Aminah’s), it is still a great feeling to make your own food from start to end. So #keepmaking ! Give yourself around 90 minutes and you will have a fresh and sizzling hot epok-epok ready to be devoured 😋
The epok-epok filling
Peel and roughly dice the potatoes into 1 cm cubes, rinse under running water and put them in a water bath. For the other vegetables, you can use frozen vegetables. I happen to have some frozen peas and a small, fresh carrot which is just enough. For the aromatics, I will be using garlic and shallots. Minced both of them together and set them aside.
Heat some oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Once hot, add in your spices – cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves and star anise. These babies may be small, but they sure pack a punch and will add an amazing fragrance! When the filling is cooled sufficiently, use a pair of chopsticks to discard these spices.
When fragrant, add in the chopped garlic and shallot and cook until they are soft and transparent and then add in the curry and chilli powders. I’ve used a meat curry powder.
Toss in the minced beef. You can pretty much add any meat you like such as chicken or duck, or seafood such as chopped prawns. This filling is great to use up leftover meat and vegetables that are languishing in your fridge! Add in the potatoes, carrots and peas followed by salt and pepper for seasoning. Toss everything together! We are going to add a couple of tablespoons of water to let the potatoes cook and soften. Once you add water, toss and cover the lid. You are going to let it cook until the potatoes are al dente tender. If you find your pan drying up and the potatoes aren’t ready, add another tablespoon or so of water. We don’t want to end with a soggy filling either.
Once the potatoes just start to give, sprinkle with some finely chopped Chinese parsley and spring onion. These two herbs, known in Malay as Daun Sop Bawang add such a beautiful and savoury aroma to the already fabulous preparation of potatoes. Achievement unlocked: you’ve just DOUBLED the umami!
The dough
While the potatoes are cooking, grab a medium-sized bowl. Add plain flour and salt and whisk. In a small pan, heat the cooking oil. Once hot (you can test by putting a wooden spoon in the oil if the spoon starts bubbling, it’s hot enough), pour the oil into the bowl of flour. Be very careful when you do this as this might splatter. Give it a minute to cool down slightly and add butter. Use a wooden spoon to toss this oil and flour mixture until all the flour is not dry anymore and the mixture is crumbly. Next, add the water, I added it all in one go. Mix everything with the spoon and once it’s lumpy, start kneading with your hand until it’s not sticky anymore. This won’t take longer than 3-4 minutes. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for about 15 minutes with a towel or cling wrap to prevent it from drying.
Let’s fill them up
Here comes the tricky BUT fun part – filling and shaping the dough! Remove the dough from the bowl and straight onto your counter. The dough will be quite easy to work with and won’t stick to your surface. You also do not need any extra flour for dusting. Divide the dough into roughly 20 small balls. Or if you are like me, and love consistency, weigh them into 40g balls.
Take one dough ball and with a rolling pin, roll it into a circle of about 12cm in diameter and about 1½ mm thick. Pick up the rolled dough and place it on the palm of your least dominant hand. Place a tablespoon of filling and bring the edges together to form a semi-circle. Gently pinch the edges together to seal. Start on one end of the semi-circle to crimp or pleat the edges any which way you want. I use what I call, the “pinch-and-swirl” technique and I think this technique is very commonly used in Singapore and Malaysia.
Pinch and swirl!
I basically pinch one section using my thumb (top) and index finger (bottom) creating a rounded, flattened edge the size of my thumb. I then use my thumb to swirl this flattened area from underneath to end up in the next section where I will pinch again. Repeat. It takes some getting used to but honestly it really does not matter how pretty or not your crimping is, it’s gonna be delicious and your family members will appreciate it no matter how it looks! But having said that, it does matter that your edges are sealed properly to prevent the filling from leaking into the hot oil during frying.
OR
Just seal and crimp the edges with the back of a fork! Easy-peasy!
There are many ways to crimp an empanada, and if you search on YouTube, you will find dozens of videos that show all the different ways people crimp their empanadas and curry puffs.
Let’s start frying
Heat a generous amount of oil in a frying pan at medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot at 180˚C, carefully slide in the epok-epok. You can fry several pieces at a time, so long as you are not squashing them like sardines. Turn the epok epok when the bottom side is golden brown and continue frying until they are even in colour. This will take around 3-4 minutes. Remove the epok-epok and drain them on paper towels.
Time to serve!
I recommend you serve the epok-epok while they are still warm. Nothing beats the feeling of devouring a freshly made epok-epok. Enjoy!
Epok-epok Kentang
Potato Curry Puff
20
piecesIngredients
- Dough
500g plain flour
¾ tsp salt
2 tsp softened butter
120ml hot cooking oil
225ml water
- Filling
2 tbsp cooking oil
2-3 potatoes, about 420-450g with skin
100g minced meat
1 small fresh carrot
2 tbsp frozen peas
4 shallots
2 garlic cloves
½ tsp chilli powder, or more to taste
2 tsp meat curry powder
2 cloves
1 small piece cinnamon
2 green cardamom
½ star anise
Chinese celery
Spring Onion
Salt and pepper
3-4 tbsp water
Directions
- Wash the potatoes. Using a vegetable peeler, peel off the skin and cut the potatoes into approximately 1cm cubes. Once the potatoes are cut, rinse and submerge them in a bowl of water.
- Do the same for the carrot, peel and cube.
- Next, chop the shallots and garlic finely.
- Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Add in the cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and star anise. Fry lightly until it is fragrant.
- Add the shallot and garlic and let them cook until soft and transparent. Add in the meat curry powder and chilli powder. Stir all the ingredients until it is mixed.
- Once it is mixed, add in the minced beef and mix. Fry for about 2 minutes.
- Drain the potatoes and add into the pan. Toss in the carrots and peas and mix well.
- Add 3 tbsp of water and cover the pan with a lid. Let the potatoes cook until al dente, about 10-15 mins.
- In the meantime, chop up 2 tbsp each of Chinese parsley (leaves and stem) and spring onion. Check the potatoes at around 8 minutes: if the potatoes are still hard and the pan is drying up, add another tablespoon or so of water. Close the lid and let it cook for a few more minutes until the potatoes are just right and all the water has been absorbed. Check the seasoning, toss in the chopped herbs, mix and turn off the heat.
- Transfer the filling into a bowl and let it cool completely.
- Grab a medium-sized bowl and add plain flour and salt. Mix well.
- Heat 120ml of oil in a small saucepan on medium high heat until the oil is hot (but not smoking). Test by dipping a wooden spoon into the oil, if the oil bubbles around the spoon then it is hot enough. Carefully and slowly pour the hot oil into the bowl of flour and leave it to cool for about a minute.
- Add butter and mix the flour with a wooden spoon. Continue mixing and incorporating the flour with the oil until it looks crumbly and the flour is no longer dry. Add in all the water at once and stir until the dough is lumpy.
- Using your hand, knead the dough in the bowl for about 3-4 minutes until the dough is smooth and doesn’t stick to your hand. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
- Using a dough cutter or a knife, divide the dough into 20 equal pieces, about 40g each. Roll each piece of dough into balls.
- Using a rolling pin, roll one dough ball into a circle of about 12cm in diameter and about 1½ mm thick.
- You can leave the rolled dough on the counter and place the filling on it or if you’re like me, place the rolled, flattened dough onto your palm and add a heaped tablespoon or so of the filling .
- Heat oil in a medium saucepan until it is hot. Using a wooden chopstick or ladle, put it into the oil and you should see a stream of bubbles rising from the tip.
- Fold the dough into a semi-circle and seal by gently pressing the edges together. Using the technique described in the article above, pinch and crimp the edges, starting from one end of the semi-circle. Repeat the process until you have finished filling and sealing all 20 epok-epok. At this point, you may freeze the curry puffs or go straight to the next step, which is frying them.
- Add a generous amount of oil in a medium saucepan deep enough to deep fry the epok-epok. Turn on the heat to medium-high until 180˚C.
- Deep fry the epok-epok over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown, turning once. If you are frying them frozen, add about 1-2 more minutes of cooking time.
- Remove the epok-epok and let the excess oil drain on a paper towel.
- Enjoy the epok-epok while they are still warm!
