Curry Puffs: A Taste of Singapore’s Past
The curry puff is often considered a local invention unique to Singapore and Malaysia though variants of it can be found in Thailand and the Philippines. The origins of the curry puff are clouded, but it is often attributed to European colonial influence, its pastry having similarities to the Cornish pie or the Portuguese empanada. The curry puff’s spicy meat and potato filling point to an obvious Indian connection.
A scan through digitised British newspapers of the early 20th century show that the curry puff and its indubitable partner, the sausage roll, were often served in cafes in England, Australia and India. The filling was often cold curry leftovers which were then “encased in a flakey pastry”, sealed into a triangular shape, then baked. One of the earliest references to the curry puff was an article in a local newspaper about the snack being served to underprivileged children during charitable Christmas parties in the 1930s. At these annual parties, the curry puff was packed along with other colonial staples, such as an apple, a tin of milk, chocolates and cake, and given as gifts during a day out with dodgem car riding at the Great World Amusement Park. The curry puff was not merely poor man’s fare as evidenced by the Special Dinner and Dance supper menu served at the Adelphi Hotel in 1932, which included the puff alongside dishes such as mayonnaise de saumone, roast chicken and roquefort cheese.
The famous Polar Cafe is believed to have created the first baked curry puff in Singapore. The recipe for the spicy chicken curry filling supposedly came from an Indian merchant while the flaky and buttery puff pastry was a British influence. The resulting Polar curry puff was a product of the ingenious marriage between colonial and colonised taste buds. Founded in the mid-1920s by Hong Konger Chan Hinky, who arrived in Singapore with little money, the Western-style café along High Street sold baked goods and ice cream, which soon became popular with the parliamentarians, lawyers and the rich who worked and lived around the Supreme Court and Parliament House.
How Old Is The Curry Puff?
The good ol’ and well-loved Singapore style Curry Puff was first introduced in 1926
How many curry puffs have you had in your life? Probably quite a few. Ever stopped to wonder how and when this popular street food snack was invented? We have several different types in Singapore: the “epok epok” sold by Malays (usually small and deep-fried, with a thinner crunchier dough crust); the larger and thicker shortcrust “curry puff” with boiled egg slice and curried potato popularised by the Chinese; and then we have the Indian triangular or rectangular flaky puffs that are baked and affectionally called “kali pap”.
We are all a little hazy on when this ubiquitous snack began but theories abound on how it came about. Some see its resemblance to the Cornish pasty that the British introduced (it’s a semi-circular baked pastry crimped on the round side, filled with meat, onion, turnip and potatoes). Pasties themselves have been mentioned in cookbooks as far back as the 1300s. It was eaten by the working class (convenient portable food) and royalty alike. It’s been speculated that the crimped side was for miners to hold while they eat, and to be discarded, so they don’t ingest any toxic elements from their dirty fingers. But they were also eaten whole when wrapped in a paper bag.
Although associated with India, these samosas are not indigenous to the Indians. The curry puff also has a similar cousin in the samosa. You’ll be surprised to know the samosa is not indigenous to India. Early medieval Persian texts mention the “sanbosag” (etymologically similar to “samsa”, meaning pyramid). Traders from the Middle East and Central Asia brought the “sambosa” to India, and the Indians added their own spices, and also made it vegetarian in some parts. Then there is the empanada which came from Portugal and Galicia in northwestern Spain, and spread to Latin America. These were also influenced by the samosa, so they share the Middle Eastern roots.
These baked puffs from Polar Puffs was first introduced in 1926. In Singapore, Polar Puffs is one of the oldest known baked curry puff businesses, having started in 1926. That makes it a grand 90 years old this year. Their creation marries the Western style of flaky puff pastry with Indian curry. Mr Chan Hinky who moved here from Hong Kong started a cafe at High Street. It was one of the few businesses that was allowed to continue during the Japanese occupation. What can you say? Good food must be the key to world peace. The Straits Times rated Polar as the best in a blind taste test of 50 curry puffs. It’s so popular in the newsroom that new reporters once had to buy everyone Polar puffs when they got their first byline.
Curry puffs: How a Portuguese snack arrived in Southeast Asia in the 1500s and became a hit across the region
Southeast Asian curry puffs are descended from Portuguese empadas, which arrived in the region in the 1500s, brought by spice traders. The Straits Times
Sweet or savoury, enjoyed as appetisers or snacks, tiny puffs with a variety of fillings are a delicacy across Southeast Asia. From Malaysia and Singapore to Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, various types of puff are based on a popular colonial import.
Curry puffs – called epok-epok and karipap in Singapore and Malaysia and a street-food staple – comprise curried potato, chicken and other ingredients stuffed in fried or baked pastry. British colonialists in Asia came up with the name “curry puff”, but the dough pockets have been influenced by the colonial cuisines of several European nations down the centuries. The puff’s most important ancestor is the Portuguese empada, a meat, fish or vegetable pie.
Portuguese traders and adventurers were the first Europeans to begin colonising Asia in the early 1500s, building settlements to control the lucrative spice trade in Goa, India, Malacca in Malaya, and Macau near Hong Kong. They indirectly influenced the eating habits of other Asian countries trading with Portuguese colonies. Travelling on various trade routes, the puff became a trans-Asian snack. “There were smaller Portuguese settlements, not colonies, in port cities all along the Asian trading routes, as far east as Japan,” says food historian Janet Boileau, an expert on Portuguese-Asian cuisine and culture. “So you find most influence in the former colonies, but it spread from there to the other places along the trading routes. It is fair to say the curry puff is a symbol and heritage of the Portuguese presence in Asia.”
Curry puffs are colonial era food
Old Chang Kee making money selling it back to the British
Old Chang Kee has opened its first outlet in the United Kingdom. It is located in Covent Garden, London's premier tourist spot. One puff is selling for £2.80, which is S$5.01. In a poetic justice sort of way, you can say the humble curry puff has come full circle.
What was once a snack created for Singapore’s colonial masters has evolved over time and is finally returning back again to feed the British. How did we get curry puffs? Like many of our favourite foods in Singapore, curry puffs were thought to be created to cater to the tastes of our British colonial masters. The British's fascination with curry actually began in India, way before they came to Southeast Asia. So, their continued love for it here in the tropics comes as no surprise: Little pockets of curried potatoes encased in buttery pastry? Sure!
The curry puffs we know today were probably inspired by Indian samosas and British Cornish pasties. Curry puffs first appeared in the Malay peninsula as pastries filled with curried potatos in the 1800s. Over the years, curry puffs (and their Malay counterpart the epokepok) became a regular street food sold by itinerant hawkers. The Chinese also modified the curry puff by adding an egg inside.
Battle of the Curry Puffs: The curry puff showdown
Forget the calories: #currypuffsforever. We’re munching on these faves for a flavour-packed and naughty snack
Call it breakfast, a quick snack or a cheat treat to satisfy that craving – curry puffs are one of our local favourites. Generously stuffed with chunks of chicken, potatoes and eggs (or sardines), these semi-circle snacks have evolved from the original to rendang, nasi lemak, chilli crab and even durian flavours.
We’re stripping it down to the basics and going back to what makes a smashing curry puff. The answer lies in a crust that’s not too oily or jelak, a chunky filling where you can actually see the chicken bits, and a good filling-to-crust ratio.
Here are the best curry puffs in Singapore we’re salivating over right now. Seriously, is there a more satisfying snack out there:
Curry puff showdown
Polar Puff started in 1926 as a popular eating place selling pastries and ice cream in High Street
Golden, crisp, potato-filled curry puffs are a well-loved snack. And most people have a go-to place for this baked or deep-fried snack, whether it is a hawker stall, bakery or famous chain. It can be deep-fried or baked, and is generally filled with potato curry, chicken, onions and pieces of egg. The Malay version is known as epok epok and is smaller than most curry puffs. Potatoes are by no means the only filling either. Variations include sardine, tuna and beef rendang as well as more exotic flavours such as durian, custard and bird's nest.
To suss out the best ones, a panel of five judges ate their way through 41 curry puffs, shortlisted from popular brands and chef recommendations. The judges are Life's food editor Tan Hsueh Yun and restaurant critic Wong Ah Yoke, as well as guest judges Violet Oon, food consultant and restaurateur; Devagi Sanmugam, cookbook author and cooking instructor; and Willin Low, chef-owner of Wild Rocket restaurant. Two blind tasting sessions were carried out, with each judge awarding a maximum of 20 points to each curry puff - 10 points for the filling and 10 for the pastry.
Despite the perception that curry puffs made by hand would be better than those churned out by machines, the judges were surprised by the result. Taking the top two places are established chains, while hawkers who have honed their craft for at least 10 years took the next three spots. Ranked No. 1 is 89-year-old bakery chain Polar Puffs & Cakes, while second place goes to snack chain Old Chang Kee. Both make their curry puffs in central kitchens. 3rd was Epok Epok Central followed by No Name & 5th wasYong Kee Lontong Crispy Curry Puff.
Deep-fried war: 2 brothers run rival Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff stalls metres apart
Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Since 1952 run by Ray Ng and Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original Since 1952 run by Peter Ng. (PHOTOS: Bryan Tan/Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore)
Fans of the famous “Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff” can be excused if they think they are seeing double at the second level of Hong Lim Market & Food Centre.
Situated just two units away from each other – and differentiated by one contentious word – are the Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original Since 1952 at #02-36 and Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Since 1952 at #02-34. The stalls, run separately by two brothers, personify a tale of fierce sibling rivalry over the legacy of the beloved curry puffs first created by their father seven decades ago.
Peter Ng, 56, and Ray Ng, 50, began helping their father, Ng Yong Cheong, at the original Hong Lim stall at #02-36 in 2000 and 1997, respectively. Peter operates Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Original Since 1952, while Ray set up his stall under the name Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Since 1952 only in March this year. During a recent visit to the stalls, Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore approached the brothers separately to talk about how they run their business.
Peter was more forthcoming in telling his version of the history of Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff, insisting that his stall is the one and only “original”. “This is a business but now it’s like a war, we are like enemies. He (Ray) is trying to kill me,” Peter said bitterly about the family fallout. In contrast, Ray preferred to talk about making curry puffs. When asked about the rivalry, he was reticent and would only say, “You want to talk about why we have the same name but the other stall (has) no queue, is it?” The story began when the senior Ng started selling the family’s flaky treat in the area around Orchard Road and Scotts Road in the early 1950s. He later moved his business to the historic Read Bridge at Clarke Quay in an area called cha chun tau, a jetty for boats to unload firewood.
Killiney Curry Puff
If you walk down Killiney road, you can't miss Killiney Curry Puff (KCP) with its massive green signboard and various puffs displayed behind a clear glass screen (see this example). We have walked down Killiney road a few times but never bought their curry puff to try since our favourite was already Dino's and Balmoral Bakery. But one day the foodie in me just had to give KCP's curry puff a shot, to know for myself whether it was good or not. So I bought one for mom and one for myself.
I must admit that one of the reasons I was hesitant to try KCP's curry puff is because it looked oily. From the air bubbles on the surface of the curry puff skin, it is obviously deep fried. Although on the greasy side, the curry puff skin is at least slightly thinner than Old Chang Kee's. I was surprised to see that many green peas upon cutting the curry puff in two. However, upon examining the entire curry puff, it turned out that it was just a smatter of green peas that happened to be near the middle where I made the cut, while the rest of the curry puff was mainly potato. KCP's curry puff really needed meat because there was practically none inside, and I do not remember eating any slivers of egg either.
KCP might be slightly better than the average hawker stall type curry puff, but for now I think your money is better spent on Dino's or Balmoral Bakery. Mom, who has tried curry puffs from both shops, thinks so too.
11 Best Curry Puffs in Singapore Better Than Polar Puffs
Curry Puffs 咖 哩 角, or Epok-epok in Malay, is a Singaporean as well as popular ASEAN snack- it’s basically a miniature pie filled with curry in a baked pastry shell usually in the shape of a semi-circle. Fillings are classically chicken curry with potato, but also come in variants like tuna curry or even chili crab filling.
After a rather shocking result by the Straits Times with their Curry Puff blind tasting – with Polar Puffs & Cakes being awarded the best curry puff in Singapore – we decided to do our own Singapore curry puff guide.
Curry puffs are one of my favourite mid day snacks: scrumptious pastry exterior with a generous portion of savory filling right within? I’ll take them all day, every day if I could. If you share the same sentiments as I do, then I am pleased to share with you 11 of my most favourite curry puffs ever:
- Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff
- Fong’s Dee Curry Puff
- Swisslink Bakery and Cafe
- Rolina
- Old Chang Kee
- 1A Crispy Puffs
- Tip Top Curry Puff
- J2 Crispy Curry Puff
- Dino Cake House and Cafe
- Richie’s Crispy Puff
- AMK Curry Puff
12 Addictive CURRY PUFFS In Singapore
I was watching a CNA documentary “Hawk This Way” that portrayed snack sellers at hawker centres are having a difficult time this period. Reasons include customers not that inclined to dabao items such as Curry Puff, or do not have time to wait for freshly-fried ones. Ah, Curry Puffs.
So do lend some support to our Curry Puff sellers, be Those deep-fried (some baked) pastries with curried fillings, potatoes and chicken make such as comforting, semi-filling treat. I start with both ends of the crimping, then go towards the centre.Some of t he famous ones around include Epok Epok Central (Eunos Crescent Market & Food Centre), Richie’s Curry Puff, Isha Curry Puff (Circuit Road Food Centre); to the more mass-market brands – Polar Puffs & Cakes, 1A Crispy Puffs, and IKEA.
Here are 12 of the must-have Curry Puffs in Singapore:
- AMK Curry Puff
- Wang Wang Crispy Curry Puff
- Er Jie Curry Puff
- Soon Soon Huat Curry Puff
- Fong’s Dee Curry Puff
- Rolina
- J2 Famous Crispy Curry Puff
- Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff Since 1952
- Yong Kee Curry Puff
- Lagoon Chicken Curry Puff
- Killiney Curry Puff
- Old Chang Kee Coffee House
12 Underrated Curry Puff Stalls Around Singapore That Are As Good As Old Chang Kee
Every time someone mentions curry puffs to me, the first thing that comes to my mind is Old Chang Kee, but I believe there are many other curry puff stalls out there waiting to be heard of.
If you love snacking on curry puffs as well, I’ve compiled a list of curry puffs in Singapapore that won’t disappoint both you and your tummy:
Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff
- Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff
- Rolina
- 1A Crispy Puff
- Richie’s Crispy Puff
- AMK Curry Puff
- J2 Famous Crispy Curry Puff
- Soon Soon Huat Crispy Curry Puff
- Killiney Curry Puff
- Tip Top
- Wang Wang Crispy Curry Puff
- Swisslink Bakery & Cafe
- Fong’s Dee Curry Puff
Top 15 Curry Puff Stalls in Singapore to Get Your Curry in a Hurry!
When we think of a fully-stuffed snack with a kick of spice, it’s no surprise our minds would immediately picture curry puffs!
From its humble beginnings of being sold in glass-cabinet bicycles to being sold in trays at large stall fronts, the multicultural dish now exists in different variations (Malay Epok Epok, Chinese Curry Puffs, Indian Karipap, and many more!) and with creative fillings to boot!
We bring to you our ultimate picks of Puff-fect curry puffs:
- J2 Famous Crispy Curry Puff
- Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff
- Epok Epok Story
- Lagoon Chicken Curry Puff
- Yong Kee Curry Puff
- Epok Epok Central
- The Baba Curry Puff Cafe
- Wang Wang Crispy Curry Puff
- Isha Curry Puff
- Soon Soon Huat Crispy Curry Puff
- Er Jie Curry Puff
- Yang’s Epok Epok
- Fong’s Dee Curry Puff
- #MakanBoleh
- Rolina Traditional Hainanese Curry Puff
Curry puff
A curry puff is a deep-fried or baked, semi-circular pastry filled with curried fillings. The origins of this snack are uncertain and attributed variously to the influences of the British Cornish pasty, the Portuguese empanada and the Indian samosa. The curry puff pastry is made of plain flour mixed with clarified butter that is rolled out and folded in half. It is filled with curried potato and meat, and sometimes half a hard-boiled egg. Popular variants include a filling made of sardines. In general, the filling is cooked separately and then folded into the pastry before the puff is closed and crimped at the sides.
Believed to be inspired by the British Cornish pasty, the curry puff was likely introduced into the Malay Peninsula in the 1800s. Some have suggested that the shape of the curry puff is similar to the Portuguese empanada, a type of meat pastry. Others consider the curry puff to be influenced by the Indian samosa, which is a triangular-shaped pastry with meat or vegetable filling. Epok-epok, the Malay version, is a fried pastry filled with sardines or potatoes flavoured with rempah (a paste of mixed spices) but without curry. In the 1970s, itinerant hawkers would travel from place to place on bicycles, with their epok-epok displayed in glass cabinets mounted on the bicycles. These were sold accompanied by a sweet-and-sour chilli sauce.
The shape of the curry puff was said to have been changed by the Malays to resemble a crescent, which is the religious symbol of Islam. The Chinese soon adopted this popular Malay snack and modified it. They produced a version filled with potato, chicken and a hard-boiled egg, which is recognised as the modern-day curry puff. Indian curry puffs are triangular or rectangular in shape. Unlike the epok-epok, the early version of the curry puff had a short-crust pastry with light flaky skin similar to Western pies, which had a more buttery pastry. It is believed that the curry puffs were already sold by street vendors prior to being sold in eateries and restaurants. One of the earliest mentions of the curry puff is found in a Straits Times advertisement by G. H. Sweetshop, dated 14 March 1924.
Curry puff
A curry puff (Malay: Karipap, Epok-epok; Chinese: 咖 哩 角,咖 哩 餃; pinyin: gālí jiǎo; Thai: กะหรี่ปั๊บ, RTGS: karipap, pronounced [kā.rìː.páp]) is a snack of Maritime Southeast Asian origin. It is a small pie consisting of curry with chicken and potatoes in a deep-fried or baked pastry shell. The consistency of the curry is quite thick to prevent it from oozing out of the snack. The pap or puff reflects the Fujian Chinese dialect 泡 (pop), which means bubble, blister and puffed. It is a truly Southeast Asian snack as it has Indian, Chinese or Malay elements.
Although the origins of this snack are uncertain, the snack is believed to have originated in Maritime Southeast Asia due in part to the various influences of the British Cornish pasty, the Portuguese empanada and the Indian samosa during the colonial era. The curry puff is one of several "puff" type pastries with different fillings, though now it is by far the most common. Other common varieties include eggs, sardines, root vegetables and onions, or sweet fillings such as yam.
Various kinds of curry puff are enjoyed throughout Southeast Asia and India.
