Murtabak is a delicious Singapore street snack. Play around with the ingredients - try soy mince or beef rather than lamb - and add finely chopped chillies if you want it hot! We have made this with our Keema peas and Sambhar blends, but try any curry blend you fancy! You can make the middle well in advance, as well as the pastry, but assemble and fry together as otherwise the egg leaks out! makes 6, feeds 4-6

For the middle:

250g lamb mince
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp curry powder (see above)
thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
large handful chopped coriander
4 eggs, beaten

For the pastry:

200g plain flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp butter softened
125ml milk

Make the pastry by combining the dry ingredients and then mxing in the butter with your fingertips, as you would for pastry or a crumble topping.
Add the milk, and mix to make a dough. Add a little extra flour if it is too wet.
Knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is soft and stretchy, then wrap and chill for a couple of hours.
For the filling, gently fry the meat in a big pan, then remove with a slotted spoon.
If there is a lot of fat remaining, remove some of it before gently frying the onions until soft.
Stir in the spices, ginger and garlic, and return the meat to the pan. Add maybe 100ml water, and simmer for about 20 minutes until the meat is cooked and quite dry.
Remove from the heat, stir in the coriander and leave to cool.
When you are ready to cook, cut the pastry into 6 equal pieces. Shape each one into a square, then roll it out into as large a square as possible. You will find that the pastry is very easy to handle.
Add the eggs to the meat mixture and mix well, then place a portion onto the centre of the pastry square. Wrap it up neatly like a parcel about 8cm square.
Heat some oil in a frying pan or wok to a depth of about 2cm and fry the parcels for about 5 minutes on each side. At this stage you can leave them to cool, then reheat in the oven when you want to serve them. If you are eating straight away they are still better placed in a hot oven for 10 minutes to ensure the sides of the parcel are crisp.
Serve with a fresh Asian salad if you are eating as a meal, or with chilli sauce to dip if they are finger food - in which case, cut each parcel into quarters.

Cook’s notes

Cook this with chicken if you prefer: either minced or chopped quite small and cooked as above.
You can also shallow fry if you want to use less oil, or cook in an air fryer.