Crispy golden Curry Puffs with flaky pastry and warmly spiced potato filling make such a satisfying homemade snack, especially served warm with sweet chilli sauce.
Curry puffs are always one of the appetisers we order when we go out for Thai food. I especially love the potato-filled ones with their crisp pastry and warm spiced filling.
After eating them many times at restaurants, I started making homemade curry puffs and eventually came up with a filling we all really enjoy. I can’t say how authentic it is, but the flavour is very similar to the curry puffs we usually order.
For a long time, I struggled to find a pastry recipe I liked, and often used puff pastry instead. Then I came across a curry puff pastry recipe from Tes at Home, a blog I absolutely love. Since Tes is originally from Thailand, I immediately wanted to try her method.
I’m so glad I did. The pastry turned out crisp, light, and flaky. It uses two separate doughs, one water-based and one butter-based, rolled together to create the layered pattern once fried.
Don’t they look gorgeous?
What are Curry Puffs?
Curry puffs are flaky savoury pastries filled with a curried mixture. They’re baked or fried until golden and crisp. The filling often includes potatoes, vegetables, chicken, beef, prawns, or boiled eggs, depending on the region and recipe.
They’re popular across Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand. Each country has its own variation.
Curry puffs are believed to have been influenced by Indian curry flavours introduced through trade and migration. These flavours were later combined with local pastry traditions.
The pastry can be buttery and flaky or softer and more bread-like. The filling is usually warmly spiced with ingredients such as curry powder, turmeric, cumin, and onions. They’re often served warm.
Reasons to Make Curry Puffs
- Crisp flaky pastry makes every curry puff feel extra satisfying straight after frying.
- Smaller portions make it easy to serve a few alongside other appetisers and snacks.
- Homemade dough gives a lighter texture than many store-bought curry puffs.
Key Ingredients for Curry Puffs
Potatoes
Potatoes give the filling its soft, creamy texture and absorb the seasoning well. Yukon Gold or Sebago potatoes work particularly well because they stay smooth and fluffy once cooked.
Flour
Flour gives both doughs their texture and structure. Using two separate doughs creates the layered effect once rolled together, giving the pastry its distinctive flaky texture after frying.
Soy Sauce
Soy sauce adds savoury flavour and a richer colour to the filling. Regular soy sauce gives the best balance without making the filling too salty.
Spices
Ground cumin adds warmth and a mild smoky flavour, while ground turmeric gives the filling its golden colour and gentle earthy notes. These spices keep the filling fragrant without making it heavily spiced.
Fish Sauce
Fish sauce adds extra savoury flavour and gives the filling more depth. Thai fish sauce works especially well because its flavour is lighter and more balanced.
Butter
Butter gives the pastry its flaky texture and delicate crisp layers. It also gives the pastry a more delicate bite and richer flavour.
Find the complete list with measurements in the recipe card below.
How to Make Curry Puffs
To Prepare the Filling
Step 1: Heat some vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until soft.
Step 2: Add the boiled potato, grated carrots, and peas, and cook for 1 minute.
Step 3: Combine the soy sauce, turmeric, cumin, coriander, fish sauce, lemon juice, and sugar in a bowl.
Step 4: Pour the sauce over the vegetables and cook until dry. Set aside to cool completely.
For the Water-Based Dough
Step 1: Put all the ingredients for the water-based dough in a mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead until smooth.
Step 2: Wrap the dough in cling wrap and let it rest for 20 minutes.
For the Butter-Based Dough
Step 1: In the meantime, put all the ingredients for the butter-based dough in a mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead until smooth.
To Assemble the Pastry
Step 1: Roll out the water-based dough into a sheet and wrap it around the butter-based dough.
Step 2: Flatten the dough into a long rectangle, then tightly roll it up like a Swiss roll.
Step 3: Turn the dough 90 degrees, flatten it into a long sheet again, then roll it up tightly once more.
Step 4: Slice the dough into 3 mm – ⅛ inch thick rounds and gently flatten them with a rolling pin.
Step 5: Spoon 1 tbsp of the potato mixture into the centre of each pastry round. Fold the pastry in half, then crimp the edges to seal the curry puffs.
Step 6: Deep fry the curry puffs in batches in vegetable oil over medium-high heat until golden brown. Transfer them to a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.
Step 7: Serve hot with sweet chilli sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, uncooked curry puffs freeze very well. Arrange them in a single layer until firm before transferring them to a freezer bag or airtight container. Fry directly from frozen or thaw overnight in the fridge first.
Press the edges firmly before frying and avoid adding too much filling. It also helps to remove any trapped air while folding the pastry, so the curry puffs stay sealed as they cook.
Minced beef, prawns, and boiled eggs are all popular fillings for curry puffs. If you want a vegetarian option, you can use curried vegetables, mushrooms, lentils, sweetcorn, or spiced tofu. Keep fillings fairly dry and finely chopped because wetter mixtures can soften pastry during frying.
Yes, puff pastry works as a quicker alternative when short on time. The texture will be lighter and less layered, though the filling and frying method still work well with it.
Neutral oils such as vegetable oil, sunflower oil, or canola oil work best because they allow the flavour of the filling and pastry to stand out. Oils with stronger flavours can slightly change the taste of the curry puffs.
Extra Help from the Kitchen
Avoid Over-Mashing Potatoes – Leave a few small potato pieces in the filling instead of mashing everything completely smooth. Slight texture gives the filling a better bite inside the crisp pastry.
Roll Evenly – Try to keep the dough thickness as even as possible when rolling. Uneven spots can fry at different speeds and affect the final texture.
Dust Off Excess Flour – Brush away excess flour before folding and sealing the pastry. Too much loose flour can make the outer layers dry after frying.
Don’t Overfill – Too much filling makes sealing harder and increases the chance of splitting during frying. A slightly flatter curry puff also cooks more evenly.
Seal Without Stretching – Press the edges firmly without pulling the pastry too tightly around the filling. Stretching the dough too much can affect the layered texture during frying.
Variations and Twists
Add Chicken – Add finely diced cooked chicken to the potato filling for a heartier filling with more texture and savoury flavour. Chicken works particularly well with warm spices and flaky pastry.
Swap in Sweet Potato – Replace part of the potato filling with boiled sweet potato for a slightly sweeter flavour and softer texture. Sweet potato also gives a deeper golden colour once cooked with spices.
Use Sardine Filling – Replace the potato mixture with a lightly spiced sardine filling for a more traditional Southeast Asian style curry puff. Keep filling fairly dry because wetter fillings can soften the pastry during frying.
Replace Spices with Curry Powder – Replace ground turmeric, cumin, and coriander with curry powder for a more rounded curry flavour. Start with 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons, then adjust after tasting the filling.
Use Puff Pastry – Replace the homemade dough with ready-made puff pastry for a quicker option with a lighter, flakier texture. Keep filling dry and seal edges well before frying.
Other Ways to Cook Curry Puffs
Baking – Place the curry puffs on a lined tray and brush egg wash over the pastry before baking at 200°C – 400°F for 20–25 minutes until golden brown and crisp. Leave a little space between each curry puff to help the pastry cook evenly.
Air Frying – Lightly brush or spray the pastry with oil before cooking at 180°C – 350°F for 12–15 minutes until crisp and evenly coloured. Turn the curry puffs halfway through cooking for more even browning.
Storage and Shelf Life
Store cooled curry puffs in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day or in the fridge for up to 3 days. For longer storage, freeze uncooked curry puffs in a single layer before transferring them to freezer bags or airtight containers.
Thaw overnight in the fridge if preferred, or cook directly from frozen with a slightly longer cooking time. Reheat cooked curry puffs in an oven or air fryer at 180°C – 350°F until crisp and heated through.
More Savoury Snacks to Try
Curry Puffs Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Filling
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 onion – finely chopped
- 700 g – 1.5 lb potatoes – diced and boiled
- 1 carrot – grated
- 1 cup peas
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- juice of ½ lemon
- 2 tsp sugar
For the Pastry
Water-Based Dough
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- ¾ cup lukewarm water
Butter-Based Dough
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 75 g – 5 tbsp butter – cut into small cubes
- 2 – 3 tbsp water
- vegetable oil – for deep-frying
- sweet chilli sauce – to serve
Instructions
To Prepare the Filling
- Heat some vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until soft.
- Add the boiled potato, grated carrots, and peas, and cook for 1 minute.
- Combine the soy sauce, turmeric, cumin, coriander, fish sauce, lemon juice, and sugar in a bowl.
- Pour the sauce over the vegetables and cook until dry. Set aside to cool completely.
For the Water-Based Dough
- Put all the ingredients for the water-based dough in a mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead until smooth.
- Wrap the dough in cling wrap and let it rest for 20 minutes.
For the Butter-Based Dough
- In the meantime, put all the ingredients for the butter-based dough in a mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead until smooth.
To Assemble the Pastry
- Roll out the water-based dough into a sheet and wrap it around the butter-based dough.
- Flatten the dough into a long rectangle, then tightly roll it up like a Swiss roll.
- Turn the dough 90 degrees, flatten it into a long sheet again, then roll it up tightly once more.
- Slice the dough into 3 mm – ⅛ inch thick rounds and gently flatten them with a rolling pin.
- Spoon 1 tbsp of the potato mixture into the centre of each pastry round. Fold the pastry in half, then crimp the edges to seal the curry puffs.
- Deep fry the curry puffs in batches in vegetable oil over medium-high heat until golden brown. Transfer them to a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.
- Serve hot with sweet chilli sauce.
Notes
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Uh…. no way! These are AMAZING! Bookmarking these so I can make them ASAP! 🙂 Thanks for the awesome, extra helpful step by step pics! 😀
Manu, Your curry puffs look to die for. I also love them but never tried the Thai versions, only the Malaysian ones. Definitely going to try your recipe. Thanks for participating in September’s YBR 🙂 Sorry I’m so late in getting here.
Manu, great YBR pick! These are absolutely beautiful, and they must be delicious! I love Thai food!
Super cool! (as usual!) These flavors are right up my alley! And I heart the swirly dough!
hiiiii….i notice everybody like thai food…why don’t give a visit to our blog here..
http://esanthaikitchen.blogspot.com/
we love Tes so much since we are half Thailand and another half Malaysian..our restaurant is in Malaysia..Malaysian also do eat Curry puff a lot..but we say it as “KARIPAP”
Manu, these curry puffs look gorgeous! I tried making Thai curry puffs once or twice (once with a chocolate and plain oil dough!) but even mine didn’t look as perfect as yours. I think using butter and oil has a slightly different effect on the dough, I’m going to have to try making a butter dough.
First of all I have to say that the pictures are stunning..
I’m in love with your photography
I am new to Thai food..I have only tried a couple of recipes and I love it so far..your amazing curry puffs are next on my list
This is so beautiful especially the swirl! I love curry puffs with potatoes, sardines or chicken mushrooms but all these are stall-bought. I didn’t know there’s a Thai version of curry puffs, always thought it’s Malay food.. 😛
Completely speechless! I want this right now!!! I love curry and this makes me really happy. The dough is very interesting. I have tried to spread the dough into flat square but I never made it so nicely – I guess practice makes it perfect and I definitely need the practice. So pretty and I bet taste is amazing. Your kids are lucky….:-)
I adore Thai food but had never heard of curry puffs and don’t remember seeing them on a menu ever. They sound delicious and that pattern is gorgeous!
That is one great recipe and thank you so much for all the step-by-step photos for the dough!! Definitely one for the bookmarks!
Ohhh thank you so so much Amrita!!! I really appreciate your lovely comment! <3
Oh my goodness, Manu you did such an incredible job..when I say that first picture I thought “how did she get those lines on the fried dough” but that is an amazing method! Love this, will have to make it when I get fully better.
Oh…those puffs looks beautiful with that spiral lines. In Peru we call that puffs “empanadas” and are filled with whatever you want, but the filling with potato I only saw in Bolivian puffs called “salteñas”.
These are a work of art! Just beautiful. I can only imagine how good they taste. I love Thai food–these flavors have to be fantastic. Yum!
Manu, these are so gorgeous. I love the swirls cause by mixing the two pastries. How clever is that! I always learn something new from your blog.
Yes! They looks gergeous! 🙂
In indonesia there a snack similar like this manu, called “pastel”
From what I read the skin-pastry looks the same, but the filling basicaly only carrot, potato, and chicken, and sometimes vermicelli
Glad u post this recipe, now I can learn more thai cuisine since I’m a fan of too!
Tasty snack! 😉
Manu, these curry puffs are making me miss the ones I grew up with in Malaysia where they also come either baked or deep fried although the filling of chicken and potato has more curry and chilli powder and a lot spicier. You have baked them to a perfect golden brown!
Ohhh this comment made my day!!! Really!!! THANK YOU!!!! 🙂
Love this curry puff wraps. The look soo cute! And I am sure thay taste even better!
I’ve never seen swirls like this in any type of dough before. Very beautiful Manu and what patience and talent this takes.
Oh I feel like I’ve been missing out- this is like a thai/indian empanada! I love it! Looks so yummy Manu!
this looks so yum. i am going to try this sometime over the weekend. hopefully i have time to do this. my boyfriend would absolutely love this.
I hope you do! They are really yummy! Let me know how you go! 🙂
Girl – I can’t keep up with your production! You are one busy chef! 🙂 I saw these on Tes’ site a while back and they took my breath away. Well, I’m having to catch my breath again! Beautiful! Love the filling and thanks for letting me know that the puff pastry in the oven works just fine – just not as pretty. 🙂
Manu, these curry puffs look awesome, I love how we can see the layers…so flaky, beautiful. Love your step-by-step pictures.
Hope you are having a wonderful week 🙂
We adore Curry Puffs, but we’ve never seen any looking quite so gorgeous! Really beautiful!
Oh wow these look so cool! I love how they came out. Thai food is one of my favorites of the asian cuisine too.
Very impressive! I don’t normally order curry puffs at a restaurant because they tend to be soggy, but yours look amazing 🙂
I love Thai food too. In fact I love almost all Asian cuisines but I’ve never made these curry puffs. I love those rings on the dough! Looks delicious.
Wow! They look amazing! Love the swirl of the pastry in the first pic…
That pastry looks amazing Manu! I love the patterns that rolling it like that makes and they are such a lovely deep golden brown shade too 🙂
This is such a lovely idea. I was looking at it and was wondering .. what are those strips and how ??? The step by step photos helps a lot 🙂
This looks absolutely wonderful!!!
God those swirls on the pastry….. Heavenly…
The marbling effect on the pastry looks amazing, and they look so appetizing.
Gorgeous, I love the pastry…so beautiful. I am not a huge deep fryer, but one day, I will try this recipe. Thanks!
I’ve seen similar oil/water layered doughs get baked instead of fried. I think it might be worth trying your technique with other cooking methods, though it might require adding vegetable coloring to make the pattern stand out.
Such a clever idea to create beautiful looking pastry!
Thanks for sharing!
Ohhh thank you so much for your sweet comment Adelina! <3
In the Philippines, we call curry puffs “empanada”. I never tried making it with homemade dough but after seeing your very beautiful curry puffs, I just got so inspired!!! I guess I will be trying it soon!
OMG your curry puffs look gorgeous! I love they way you made the dough. They turned out so pretty. I had my first curry puff in Singapore and got hooked. The dough look similar to your, but much more flaky. It seems too difficult to make, but you’ve inspired me to go and look for that recipe.
What? You mean to say I went all the way to Thailand and I missed these beauties? I have to return ASAP.
Or better still, just follow your amazing recipe. They are so pretty – look like exotic shells in a basket!
I was wondering how you made the pretty pastry! Those are so cool! I’ve never tried them before but they sounds really good, especially since they have curry in them!
…there’s no tomatoes though, right!?
I love Thai food also, but I’ve never had a curry puff! They look so delicious! That swirl action that you have going on the dough looks awesome too!
My favorite !! Love that lovely swirl lines on the pastry
Thanks Wendy! <3
Your curry puffs look so beautiful! I am also a huge fan of Thai food and curry puffs. You are making me crave some right now!
It looks so so beautiful! They are just asking to be eaten 🙂
I also love Thai food and curry puffs are one of my favorite things to order! I started making them when we moved to Israel and I couldn’t get Thai take-out anymore 🙁 Next time I will try your recipe!
Never had thai food (I never saw a Thai restaurant in Italy :S), and now I know what I’m missing! 🙁
These puffs look amazing! And the pastry reminded my of sfogliatelle, in the end 😉
wow ur curry puffs came out so well.. and golden.
My curry puffs i attempted were small and quite hard to roll out. I found the pastry shinking everytime i was tryin to roll it out 🙁
Those look great. I’ve never had them. I like Thai food too, but don’t go out for it much because my wife doesn’t like it.
noooo…stupendi! ma quanto sei brava?!?