August 29, 2008

Egg Puffs





This was one of my older recipes without detailed instructions, and I am re-doing this as one of my friends tried it out and was not sure of the assembling method. So I decided to help her out with step wise procedure that I have adapted.

If you have not tasted Egg puffs from the Indian bakeries, then you really have missed something... I tried to imitate it with the help of puff pastry (which is a blessing in disguise!). I cannot imagine making the pastry sheets from scratch, those layers of dough and butter! I would'nt even want to know how much butter they use to make these sheets, but they taste out of this world. Definitely not a very healthful recipe, but everything in moderation is "the" mantra right?

I made this for a cooking competition, and had to make like 50 of them, and hence the difference in shapes, normally I would just fold corners to make a neat little packet as shown in the procedure. One addition that we normally would not find in the Indian version would be fennel. I use a small fennel bulb and it lended a wonderful flavor to it.
The egg-wash step is mandatory if you want that golden sheen on the egg puffs.

If you have not tried to make it, this is one for life.

Egg Puffs

Ingredients:

Puff pastry sheet (Pepperidge farm) – 1 sheet
Hard boiled eggs (shelled and cut in half length-wise) – 3 nos
Red onions – 2 large
Fennel – 1 small bulb (Optional)
Garam masala – 1 tsp
Powdered cumin seeds –1/4 tsp
Curry leaves – 4-5 leaves
Oil – 2 tbsp
Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida – a pinch
Salt to taste

Thaw the pastry sheet in the refrigerator overnight, or at room temperature for 40 min.

Heat the oil in a pan, add cumin powder & curry leaves, immediately add the onions and cook them on medium low until they start turning transparent brown. Add fennel and sauté for a couple of minutes.
Add the garam masala, chilli powder, asafoetida and salt and sauté for another 2 min.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface, do not attempt to roll it too thin. Cut the pastry sheet into 6 rectangles.

Place a tablespoon of the onion mixture on a strip and then a half of the boiled egg, cut side down. Fold the pastry over the egg and seal the edges by pressing the edges together.



Place it on a baking tray/cookie sheet and brush with egg wash (one whole egg slightly beaten)
Bake in a 400F degree oven (or as mentioned in the pastry sheet package instructions) till the top is golden brown.



Server warm with sliced scallions.



I am sending this to Hima's Sunday Snacks event



On another note:

MeMe

Paru of "Brindavan Recipes" has tagged me for a Meme :)
I had almost forgotten in the grind of everyday routine. Sorry for the delay Paru :(
I will make up for it by sending it to 10 people instead of 5 :)

The rules of the MeMe are:

* Pick up the nearest book
* Open to page 123
* Find the 5th sentence
* Post the next three sentences
* Tag 5 people and acknowledge the person who tagged you.

Ok here I go:

The nearest book is "Secret" by Rhonda Byrne, and the "3 lines" that make sense are:

"When you feel bad about yourself, you block the love and instead you
attract more people and situations that will continue to make you feel
bad about you"


That makes you want to read the book, is'nt it? It is definitely a great book and a must read for all.

Now, I am tagging: (Dont roll your eyes people, I love your blogs) :)

Sameera
Purva
Uma
Kay
Pete
Srivalli
Vaishali
Dibs
Nidhi
Ramya
Laavanya

Oops that would be 11 people, Come on guys! I am just curious about what you all are reading! LOL
Have fun!

26 comments:

  1. wow, the puffs look so delicious Divya! The tag is too good. Thanks for tagging me. Will do it sometime.

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  2. Those puffs r utterly delicious and crispy..I feel hungry now;)..

    V interesting MeMe:)Thanks for doing it..Hope you had fun, I sure enjoyed reading urs..

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  3. The egg puffs look gorgeous - mine is also a similar recipe. I love the beautiful golden colour it has. I will take up this tag... and write soon.. just been a bit busy since my daughter is not well.

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  4. Hi Divya, Those puffs look delicious. Thanks for thinking of me for the meme: I'll give it a try.

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  5. Divya the egg puffs look delicious! Unlucky for us that we don't get the Puff Pastry sheets here :(

    Thanks for tagging me.

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  6. Puff looking so delicious..and yummy...how was your competition then?

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  7. Have tagged you for a meme...Check it out.

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  8. Puff looks yummy and delicious. looks great

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  9. Puff looks Gr8 and splendid..Pics are drooling.

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  10. Hi Divya, Thank you for stopping by my blog. Your egg puffs look seriously smashing!!

    A little token of appreciation waiting for you at my blog :-)

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  11. Dershena... thanks so much for the award! I really appreciate your gesture. Is'nt it wonderful how you get to know people through this wonderful medium of blogging. I hope I can get to know you better :)

    Priti... about the competition, I entered one dish in the appetizer, and one in the dessert category. My dessert won the second place, but my appetizer was a hit but missed the final prize. There were too many good dishes!
    If it interests you, you can check out pics at: http://picasaweb.google.com/ekalevents/Incredelicious2008

    Laavanya... take your time. I hope that your daughter gets well soon.

    Nidhi... I wonder if there is a way to make puff pastry instead of buying it. Worthwhile to research. Will do sometime.

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  12. Egg Puff pastry looks really delicious.....
    Congrats on winning a cooking contest :)
    Really liked reading ur MEME, will try to pick up this book if I happen to find in my library..
    I ve already being tagged for Booky MEME you can check here, However I ve added ur name as well....Thanks for tagging me dear

    http://purvasdaawat.blogspot.com/2008/08/potato-and-noodle-bake-award-and-meme.html

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  13. Divya, it's a cool meme, will do it soon! The egg puffs are yummy!

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  14. Hi Divya - Your the first to 'meme' me! Sounds like fun, and will do it soon :-))))

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  15. Wow i never knew making egg puffs is so simple. Thank u for the recipe dear. I gonna try my hands on this soon.

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  16. Hey my daughters n hub's top fave pastry, nice stepwise pics n directions! am bookmarking it and shall surely post it once i bake it! Looks much tastier n fresher than the bakery ones!

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  17. So how do you julienne your spring onions, they look so presentable cut with a slanted cut. Also, when I try to slice them, the spring onions kind of dont stay such rolly-polly, but flatten out...

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  18. Purvi... hold the onions near the base with your fingers curled in, and hold the knife in an "angle" and start cutting. They might flatten out a little bit while cutting but they spring right back.
    The key is a nice sharp knife. I learnt it the hard way... :)

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  19. Love puffs. But with vegetables though. Thanks for sending such a great entry.

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  20. So the fennel bulb you are talking, is it fresh fennel or the dry ones you eat after meal as mukhwaas? Where do you get fresh fennel bulb?

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  21. Purvi - Yes, I have used fresh fennel bulbs in this recipe. You can find it in any grocery store. It has a green stalk and a white bulb at the bottom. Do not use the dry ones.
    But however, if you don't find them, it is not a problem since it is optional.

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  22. Divs,had your egg puffs..yummy..thanks and just see the pictures in my blog

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  23. Dear Anudivya,

    I tried your two recipes; egg puff and almond cookies. They really turned out nice. It's very rare for me to receive a compliment from my family!!! But it did happen.. its actually you who deserves it and not me.I like your recipes for they are moreover variations in the recipe without a compromise on taste.
    Thanks a lot from me and my family.

    Ashley

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  24. Ashley - I am so glad you tried and most importantly liked it.
    Thanks so much for your kind words... Happy cooking! :)

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Thank you for taking the time to comment on this post. I will try to respond to queries as soon as I can. If I miss anything that needs to be addressed... please feel free to ping me again.
Happy cooking/baking or whatever it is you are doing in the kitchen! :)