Learn how to make Bakery Style Veg Puff recipe with step by step pictures. Easy homemade veg puff recipe with homemade puff pastry, best as tea-time snack!

Bakery Style Veg Puffs are quite popular all over South India and especially in Bangalore Iyengar bakeries. Made with spicy vegetable stuffing layered in light, golden & crispy puff pastry – these treats are as delicious as they can get. Growing up, dad used to treat to us Veg Puffs and Sweet Puffs almost every weekend and this recipe holds such a huge nostalgia for me. The whole reason I wanted to make homemade puff pastry sheets is to make my own veg puff at home given how we haven’t eaten out at all this year. Over the weekend, I made two batches of bakery style veg puff at home and it was hugely successful.

Bakery Style Veg Puffs

“Puffs” are very well known in South India with every bakery and tea-shop selling different versions of it. These little treats are cost-effective, quite delicious and are super good with hot tea or coffee. I remember these to be all the rage when we were in college in a nearby bakery. Steaming hot veg puff cut into three equal slices with one glass of tea on the side and a small sachet of tomato ketchup is a small meal in itself. I am sure the scene hasn’t changed much even after a decade.

Each bakery or eatery or tea-stall has their signature veg stuffing. And that’s what makes or break the veg puff. When made right and with good quality ingredients & vegetables, it is very tasty but I have also had the misfortune of tasting some atrocious things like vegetable scraps (and at times large chunks of beetroots) in the puff filling. I have made my veggie stuffing the way I like it, you can choose to add or remove vegetables as per your liking.

Tips & Important Notes to Make Perfect Veg Puff

Once you have the puff pastry sheets prepared, making any kind of puff is very easy at home. It is important to keep in mind a few things before baking the puff.

If your puff pastry is in the freezer, make sure to thaw it overnight in the fridge. We will always work with cold pastry dough and we want the butter in the dough not to be soft to get enough layers.
Roll the puff pastry sheet to about ¼^th of an inch in thickness. The size of the rectangle depends on how much dough you are working with, there are no hard & fast rules there.
It is important to cut the rolled out puff pastry & trim the edges to expose all the layers. If you miss this step, you cant see the layers in your puff.
Once the puff pastry sheet is cut, don’t roll it again.
Make sure the oven is very hot and it is on toast mode (both heating filaments on top & bottom ON) to get maximum heat.
The prepared puffs should be cold, I always put them in freezer for 10-15 mins. The dough should feel hard to touch. It is then, the butter lets out steam on melting in the hot oven creating those very many layers.
If you are ok with using eggs, make egg wash by beating an egg with 2 teaspoon of water and apply a thin layer of it on the puffs before baking. If you don’t want to use egg wash, use melted butter instead. It is possible to get golden puffs without eggs & butter too.

Storing & Serving Suggestions

Veg Puff is best served hot and straight out of the oven when it is at the crispiest best. Once it cools down completely, store them in an airtight container and the puffs should remain crisp for a few hours. Eventually they will get soft. If serving within a day, they can be left at room temperature but otherwise store them in fridge. Reheat them in a preheated oven for 5mins to crisp them up again before serving.

Checkout other savory bakes

Veg Puff Recipe with Step by Step Pictures

Heat a pan with 2 teaspoon of oil and add ½ teaspoon cumin seeds.

Add 1 small onion finely chopped. Fry until transparent.

Now add ¼ teaspoon ginger garlic paste and fry for a couple of minutes until the raw smell is gone.

Add 1 small tomato finely chopped and fry for a few minutes until the tomatoes are mushy.

Next add 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder, ⅛ teaspoon turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder. Cook for a minute.

Add all the chopped vegetables – ¼ cup each of finely chopped carrots, French beans, potatoes and green peas. Stir fry for a couple of minutes.

Add salt as needed.

Now add about ½ cup of water and cook the vegetables covered.

When the vegetables are soft and there is no water left, remove from heat.

Add 2 tablespoon finely chopped coriander leaves. Let the mixture cool down completely.

To make the puffs, take the puff pastry dough and cut it into half. Roll one part into a rectangle of ¼^th inch in thickness. Repeat the same with the other part if using immediately or store it in fridge/freezer to use as needed.

Trim the edges from all 4 sides. The trimmed pieces can be made into twisted cookies rolled in sugar.

Cut the rectangle into 4 equal parts.

Now press the center of each part to flatten slightly. This will make it easier to fold in half.

Place 1-2 tablespoon of prepared veg stuffing at the center depending on how large the puff pastry sheet is.

Close the puff and gently seal the edges. Repeat this with rest of the cut puff pastry sheets. Meanwhile preheat the oven at 200°C for 20mins and also place the prepared puffs in freezer for 15mins.

Line the baking tray and place the cold veg puffs. It is optional to brush the puffs with melted butter or egg wash. Bake at 200°C for 25-35 mins on toast mode (both top & bottom heating filaments with fan ON)

Once the top & bottom are golden brown and the pastry is puffed up, remove from oven.

Serve hot immediately with tomato ketchup alongside hot tea or filter coffee.

Recipe Notes

Check out the Homemade Puff Pastry recipe.
Any choice of vegetables can be used depending on availability and preference.
Adjust the spices in veg stuffing as per preference.
Store-bought puff pastry can also be used.

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