Chicken Pie - A Pictorial Recipe

Inspired by the 'Step-by-Step' book, here's my pictorial recipe :P

Makes 5 Chicken Pies In a Bowl

Chicken Pie Filling




Ingredients:
300g chicken fillet, cut into cubes, marinade with some soya sauce & pepper
1 potatoe, peeled & cut into cubes
1 pink onion, diced
1 can of sliced mushrooms
1 can Campbell Soup
1 bowl of frozen mixed vegetables
(you can also include celery)


Heat 1 tbsp oil in wok. Add onion & fry till fragrant. Add some water, then the potatoes.
Cover wok and cook potatoes before adding chicken and all the other ingredients.
Add additional water & seasoning if necessary.
Set aside to cool & keep in the fridge until ready to use.



For the Shortcrust Pastry ('Pie Skin')

Ingredients:
240g flour
1/4 tsp salt
50g caster sugar
120g butter, cut into cubes & frozen
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp lemon juice
some ice-water


Sift flour into a bowl. Add sugar & salt. Mix well.
Add in the cold butter.


Use a butter/fat cutter or a fork to cut the butter into the flour...

... until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture & pour in 1/2 the beaten egg.

Mix well with the fork & add in the remaining egg & lemon juice. Mix well.

Slowly add a little water at a time and mix well...

...until a dough is formed.

Wrap up the dough and let it rest in the fridge for 30 mins.

Now is a good time to wash up all the previous mess...

... and get ready to roll the dough.

Make the dough into small balls before rolling them using a rolling pin.
Slightly flour the work area and the rolling pin to prevent the dough from sticking.
Rotate the dough 90 degrees after every roll.
Press the rolled pastry into the bowl & trim off the excess over the edge of the bowl.

Baking Blinds (Optional) : This helps to give you a crispy base.

Line the pastry bowl with a piece of greaseproof paper.

Put soya beans/rice on top to prevent the pastry from rising during baking.

Bake for 15-20 mins in a pre-heat oven of 180degrees celcius.

You can re-use the beans for baking blinds again.

Allow them to cool before storage.

Allow the pastry to cool before adding the fridge cold filling.

Add a cooked quail's egg or quarter of an egg if desired.

Cover the pie with another piece of rolled-out dough.

Trim off the excess & seal the edges by pressing down with a fork.

Decorate as desired.

To glaze, brush a beaten egg.

Prick some holes with a fork to help release steam during baking.

This will help to give you a crispy crust.

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes or until the crust has turned a golden brown.

Enjoy your pie hot :)

Storage: Let it cool before keeping in the fridge.

Before serving, put it into the oven & turned on the oven to 180 degrees and heat up for 30 mins.

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.