Baked Chicken Curry Puffs - cooking recipe

Ingredients

5 whole cloves
5 whole black peppercorns
2 whole cardamom pods
1/2 cinnamon stick (3 cm long)
2 small whole dried red chilies
2 tablespoons coriander powder
1 tablespoon cumin seed
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
200 g minced chicken
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 brown onion, diced
1 clove garlic, finely sliced
spray oil
3 sheets puff pastry
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)

Preparation

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C (fan-forced) or 200 C conventional.
Add the potatoes to a pot of boiling water and cook until just soft. Drain and set aside.
In the meantime, toast the first 3 spices (cloves, peppercorns, cardamon) in a medium size saucepan over a medium heat, until just beginning to smoke and becoming aromatic. Remove from heat and set aside in bowl,
Add the next 2 spices (cinammon and chilies), and repeat toasting instructions. Remove and add to same bowl as the other toasted spices.
Add the last 4 spices (coriander, cumin, fennel and tumeric powder) and repeat toasting. Remove and add to same bowl as the other toasted spices.
When the spices have cooled, grind with either a mortar and pestle, or in coffee grinder. (Note: I like my spice mix fine, so after grinding in mortar and pestle, I sieve the mixture using a fine net sieve).
Set the spice mixture aside (when cooled, store in a jar).
Add a bit of spray oil to the saucepan pan, add the chicken and cook until browned all over and cooked through. Remove and add to a medoim-sized bowl.
Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of the spice mix to the chicken.
If needed, add a bit more oil to the pan, and cook the onion until browned, about 4-5 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.
Return the chicken and spice mix, and the drained potatoes to the saucepan.
Cook for a further minutes until all ingredients have mixed in together.
Add in the sugar and salt, and stir.
Remove from pan, and add back into the medium bowl. Leave to cool for about 10 minutes.
Thaw out the puff pastry sheets, and cut each sheet into 9 squares.
When the mixture has cooled a little, add a heaped teaspoon into the centre of one the pastry square.
Fold square in half, and pinch edges together to form a triangle shape.
Place triangles on an oven tray, and spray with oil.
Cook for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.