Jeriel's Snack Box - Sardine Puffs

New Year, new me, new home organisation! Chinese New Year (CNY) is approaching, it’s time to clear the pantry and refrigerator so that new food can come in. I needed to clear a packet of ready-to-roll puff pastry and a can of sardine. They had been sitting and occupying my already-small kitchen space for at least half a year. You know what, I have this bad shopping habit which I like stocking for food and groceries even before I know how and what I want to use them for. I know a lot of you do this too, so we are all buddies huh? Hey come on, aren't our husbands glad that we are obsessed with food, and not with gold, diamonds, houses and super branded stuff?

Back to today’s recipe. So the puff pastry and sardine were used for this quick and easy Sardine Puffs for Jeriel to bring to his nursery today. The Pampas puff pastry comes in 375g so it will only produce 8-10 puffs if you have a small family like mine. Despite of its convinience, the Pampas does have its drawback on the taste side. Unlike the authentic butter based puff pastry, it offers the taste of the pastry margarine based pastries that we could easily get at most of the bakeries here. Well, I guess one has to compromise the taste for the convinience right?

Sardine Puffs
Makes 8

Ingredients:
1 pack of 375g ready-to-roll puff pastry
1 can of 155g sardine fish in tomato sauce
1 medium onion, diced
3 tbsp oil, for frying
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
Pepper to taste

Egg glaze:
1 egg, lightly beaten


Method:

1. Remove puff pastry from freezer to thaw at chiller (Note 1).
2. To prepare filling: remove sardin fish from its gravy in to a bowl. Remove the bones. Heat up oil in a pan/wok. Fry diced onion till fragrant. Add sardine. While frying, mash sardine with stir-fry spatula. Season with salt, sugar and pepper. Dish out and set aside to let cool.
3. Preheat oven at 200 degC. Line baking tray with greaseproof paper.
4. Remove puff pastry from chiller onto a lightly floured table topand roll it out to a rectangle of 3mm thick. Cut into 8 rectangles.
5. Place about 1 full tablespoon of filling on to each rectangle. Brush edges with egg glaze (Note 2). Fold pastry to enclose the filling.
6. Use a fork to press down the edges to seal. Dock top of puffs with a fork (Note 4) and place them on prepared baking tray.
7. Brush the top of puffs with egg glaze (Note 2).
8. Bake preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.
   

Notes:

1. Due to the Malaysia climate, i.e. hot and humid, I prefer to thaw my puff pastry at the chiller instead of room temperature. It is much easier to work with puff pastry when it is at 4-6 degC.
2. Pelase be careful to not let egg glaze touches the layers of puff pastry as the egg glaze will act as a 'glue', preventing the layers from rising properly during baking.
3. When cutting puff pastry dough, cut it very cleanly with a sharp knife or pizza cutter, otherwise the layering at the edges will be compromised when baked.
4. Dock top of puffs with a fork to allow the steam to escape during baking.