Fresh from the Oven – Curry Stuffed Buns

I have recently joined a group called ‘Fresh From the Oven’ which is a monthly bread baking group. In essence the group has a monthly challenge to all bake their version of a given bready recipe. This months challenge was curry stuffed buns. I made them really early in the month and have been desperate to post this as I think they look so cute!

I guess I am quite pedestrian in my bread making in that I tend to make what I know, so this was something I would never have tried had I not been given a good nudge. Sometimes it’s good to bake outside of your comfort zone.

I made the filling first, so as to leave plenty of time for it to cool. I didn’t waver from Ria’s original recipe too much as I need to understand the basics of a recipe before going off-piste, but I did cut the onions down to 3, as 4 of the big onions I had seemed like a lot of volume. I also went for a teaspoon each of turmeric, coriander and cumin for the spices, with a small teaspoon of chilli as I didn’t want to make them too spicy for the boy.

[Revision of quantities Feb 2010: 2 onions, the chopped chicken leftover from a roast, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp chopped ginger, 3/4 tsp each of cumin + coriander + turmeric + mild chilli, plus 1 tbsp ketchup and a good squirt of lemon juice]

The most fortuitous thing was that I had roasted a chicken the day before and when I stripped the chicken legs and thighs I ended up with exactly 200g of good chicken meat for shredding. The finished filling was delicious as it was and as I only used around half of it for the buns we had the rest for lunch with scrambled eggs and toasted muffins:

Making the dough was very different to any of my other breads. With the hot milk, egg and oil it made for a lovely soft dough that was very nice to knead, like kneading marzipan. Here it is after I punched it down:

I found getting the rolls to stay back in little balls once I had filled them a bit tricky, and tried various methods of pinching them back together and tucking bits under, but this didn’t seem to show in the end as the rolls puffed up beautifully and covered up my cack-handedness. I had a beaten egg to hand (as you do), so I glazed the rolls with this rather than the suggested egg white which is what made them more golden than Ria’s, and a bit two tone! I also ended up brushing off most of the seeds when I glazed them so I may glaze them first next time. I used half sesame and half onion seeds on the top for a bit of contrast.

They baked very quickly and looked divine when they came out of the oven.

I was unsure as when one eats a chicken curry stuffed bun, but I needn’t have worried as we found that they were good for elevenses, for lunch, along with soup, beer o’clock (a particularly good pairing we think) and supper. We managed to polish them off in no time. In fact we keep thinking of other things we could add to the stuffing, like a chick pea and potato curry or chilli beef, and thinking of other times when we could justifiably make and eat them. They would be great for picnics.

I am really looking forward to finding out what the Fresh from the Oven Challenge is for October and I think I may make some more of these right now.

In fact here we are again when I made them this month:

The original recipe is from Ria and goes like this:

♥ Stuffed Bun ♥

Yields 12 buns

For the dough:

Ingredients

Dry yeast-1 tbsp

Warm water-2tbsp

Milk-1/2 cup

Salt to taste

Oil-1/2 cup

All purpose flour-2 cups

Sugar-1/4 cup

Egg-1, beaten

Egg white-1,for egg wash

White sesame seeds for sprinkling

Method

• Dissolve the yeast in warm water with 1/2tbsp sugar and 1/2 tbsp of all purpose flour. Leave aside for 10 minutes.
• Boil the milk and allow to cool down till it is warm to touch. Add sugar, oil and salt.
• Mix well with a wooden spoon till the sugar dissolves and add 1 cup flour and mix to a smooth paste.
• Add the beaten egg, yeast and mix.Add the remaining flour and mix well till it forms a smooth dough.
• Knead well for 10 mins.[We knead it using our hands]
• Let it rest till it doubles in volume.
• Punch down the dough lightly using your palm and divide them equally.
• Flatten them into small discs and fill them with 1 tbsp of the filling. Re-shape them into a ball.Sprinkle the top with sesame seeds.
• Let it prove for another 20 mins.
• Bake them in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for 10 mins. When it starts to brown, give them an egg wash using 1 slightly beaten egg white.

♥ Spicy Indian chicken filling ♥

Ingredients

Boneless chicken-200g, boiled and shredded

Onions-4 big, finely chopped

Ginger

garlic paste-1 tbsp

Chilli powder-1/2 -1tbsp [depending on your spice level]

Coriander powder-1/2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Oil-3 tbsp

Method

• Heat oil, add the ginger garlic paste and saute till it gives out a nice aroma.
• Add the onions. Saute them till soft and transparent.
• Reduce the heat and add the powders and mix well for 2 mins.
• Add the shredded chicken and mix well.
• Keep it off the fire and let it cool.
• Use it for filling the dough.

Fresh from the oven – Baking one loaf at a time. Fresh from the oven is a monthly bread baking group. Challenges are announced on a private blog on the first of each month and then on the 28th of the month each member posts their bread on their blogs. Why not follow us on twitter, view our public blog which showcases all our efforts or email us to join at freshfromtheoven AT hotmail DOT co DOT uk. 22.09.09 I baked the buns again this Weekend but I think I might have killed the yeast by adding it to the milk mixture before it cooled enough so they did not rise properly which was a shame. They still tasted good. I followed the instructions in just the same way, so unless it was a bad batch of yeast this must have been what happened. I didn’t photograph them as I wanted to remember them as their perfect bunliness from the 1st occasion. On to the next attempt!

Tagged: Baking, Bread, Buns, Curry, Delicious, ffto, freshfromtheoven, freshoven, Oven, Rolls

Posted in: Baking, Breads, Claire, Food, Fresh From the Oven, Snacks and Starters, Spicy