Yummy Chicken Pie

Yesterday tried to make some chicken pies with shortcrust pastry. Had borrowed a book about pies from NLB & got the recipe for making the crust there. Really didn't know how the crust would turn out. Would it be soggy or too hard?

Turned out to be crispy & just nice, just like the chicken pie from Prima Deli. Hubby loved it so much that he robbed my share before I could finish it!

Here's the recipe to share. Do let me know if you've tried it out :)

Recipe for chicken Pies (Makes 4 4-inch/10cm round pie bowls)

Shortcrust Pastry:

Ingredients:

200g flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp icing/fine sugar

1 beaten egg

1 tsp lemon juice

100g butter (cut into small pieces & frozen)

some ice water

Method:

1. Sift flour into a medium size mixing bowl. Mix in the salt & sugar.

2. Put the frozen pieces of butter into the mixing bowl. (pic above)

3. Use a fork to cut in the butter into the flour. Avoid using hands to prevent butter from melting. Continue until mixture resembles small bread crumbs.

4. Make a well in the centre of the mixture & slowly pour in 1/2 of egg. Use fork to mix the mixture. Slowly add in the remaining egg and until there's enough liquid to form a dough. If it's still dry, add in tsp of ice water. Once a dough is formed, lightly knead it into a ball and wrap it using cling warp & put in fridge for at least 30 mins before rolling it out and laying on the pie pans.

Chicken Pie Filling
Ingredients:

1 tbsp of olive oil

1 big pink onion , diced

100ml of water

1 large potato, cut into small cubes

1 can of Campbell Soup (Cream of Mushroom)

300g of chicken meat, cut into small pieces

1 stalk of celery, cut into small pieces

a handful of frozen mixed vegetables (green bean, carrot & corn mix)

canned button mushrooms (cut into slices/ quartered)

pepper

Method:

1. Heat oil in wok and put in the onion. Fry till fragrant and pour in the water.

2. Put in the potatotes and let it boil before pouring in the campbell soup.

3. Mix well and put in the chicken meat.

4. Let it boil before putting in the celery, mixed vegetables & canned mushroom.

5. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

6. Add pepper to taste.

7. Cool the chicken filling before putting onto pie tray lined with pastry. (Best if filling is fridge cold.)

Making the pie

1. Take out the fridge cold dough. Prepare work station to roll out the dough. Lightly flour your hands, the surface for rolling & the rolling pin.

2. Take a ball of dough (about the size of a golfball & roll out. Turning the dough 90 degrees, every 2 rolls. Roll till u get a thickness of roughly 3mm & enough to lay the pie bowl. Roll out 4 pieces. Lay the pie bowl with the rolled out dough, pressing the sides flat, leaving about 1cm extra over the edge of the bowl. Cut out the excess using a pair of scissors.

3. Roll out another 4 pieces that will cover the top of the pies, slightly bigger (about 1cm).

4. Scoop the cold chicken filling into the 4 pie bowls, then cover with pastry crust (3).

5. Fold in the edges of the top crust with the bowl crust. Use a fork to press down the sides all around to seal the pie & give it a nice edge.

6. Use a fork to poke holes on the top of the pies. This will release the steam from the filling when baking.

7. You can roll out the leftover dough and use a cookie cutter and cut into shapes to decorate the tops of the pies.

8. Brush the top with a beaten egg to give it a nice golden brown when baked.

9. Place pies on a preheat baking tray and bake in a preheat oven @180-200 degrees for 30minutes or until the top has turned a nice golden brown.

10. Let it rest for 5 mins & serve pies while hot. Yummy!

Storing Chicken Pies

Let the pies cool before putting them in a container, then into the fridge.

From the fridge, bake cold pies in a preheat oven of 180 degrees for 20 mins before serving.