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Sardine Puffs with Frozen Roti

Fast, flaky, and honestly quite addictive, these sardine puffs will disappear more quickly than you think.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Course Snack
Cuisine Malaysian
Servings 8 puffs

Equipment

  • Airfryer

Ingredients
  

Filling

  • 1 can sardines in tomato sauce
  • 1 –2 tsp light soya sauce
  • 1 –2 tsp tomato ketchup
  • Juice of lemon or lime, to taste
  • Pinch of sugar
  • Salt to taste

Optional for extra texture and bulk

  • 1 finely diced small yellow onion
  • 1 red chilli chopped

Pastry shell

  • Frozen roti ½ piece per puff

Instructions
 

Prepare filling

  • Lightly mash the sardines. In a pan, cook the sardines with light soya sauce, tomato ketchup, lemon juice, sugar and a little salt. Stir over medium heat until the mixture thickens slightly and tastes savoury, tangy, lightly sweet and balanced.
    If using onions, chopped chilli or diced cooked potato, add them while cooking the filling so the flavours come together properly.
    Let the filling cool slightly before assembling the puffs. This makes it easier to handle and helps prevent the roti from turning soggy.

Prepare the pastry shell

  • Work with frozen roti straight from the freezer. Do not thaw.
  • Peel off the top plastic sheet and keep the roti resting on the bottom sheet for easier handling.
  • Cut one round roti into quarters. Use two quarters per puff.
  • Place about 2 teaspoons of filling onto one quarter, leaving a ~1 cm border around the edges.
  • Cover with a second quarter to form a pocket.
  • Press edges down gently, then seal with a fork.

Finish cooking

  • If using air fryer, cook at 180°C for 12-15 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Flip the puff halfway so that both bottom and top of the puff are thoroughly cooked.
  • If using oven, bake at 180°C for 10–15 minutes.

Notes

Sardine Puffs with Frozen Roti - Q & A
  1. What's the best way to handle frozen roti with minimum mess? Frozen roti usually comes sandwiched between two sheets of plastic. Peel off the top sheet, and keep the roti resting on the bottom sheet while you work. Trust me, this makes handling much easier. To make your life easier, do NOT thaw the roti. Use it straight from the freezer. Once softened, it becomes sticky, messy, and difficult to handle. I repeat - do NOT thaw the roti!
  2. How do I avoid "exploded" puffs? Hollow "Jaws" or "Oxygen" puffs (to quote a facetious friend) are no good, but you don't want your puffs to explode either from too much filling. To prevent leakage, when you scoop your filling onto the frozen roti, make sure you leave about 1cm from the border. 
  3. Is lime or lemon juice better? If you don't have lemon juice, you can also substitute with lime, but lemon gives it an extra sharpness that's more appetizing in my opinion. 
  4. How fine/rough should the mashed sardine be? Don't mash the sardines too fine, just get them crumbly enough. You want a bit of texture when you bite into the puff. 
  5. Does the brand of the frozen roti matter? In my experience, the brand of the roti doesn't really make a difference. I just go for the AEON Topvalu ones because they're cheaper (sub RM6 compared to other brands which typically retail for RM6 and above)
Keyword air-fryer