This Chicken Pie was posted by Lena of Frozen Wings few days after this month's theme starts. She was fast! She calls this Easy Chicken Pie. I read through the recipe and find it indeed easy to follow, so I immediately bookmark it. Luckily, I manage to make it on the last weekend.
Is it easy? Yes, I make the pastry and filling on separate days.
Is it nice? Very nice! I almost cannot believe myself I can make savoury pastry like this!
The pastry uses rub-in method. It is a more flaky crust than the egg tarts I make earlier.
I make vegetarian version for my mum using vegetarian ham instead of chicken. To differentiate between the 2 types, I make "C" for Chicken Pie and "V" for Vegetarian Pie using the excess dough.
Lena suggested adding cheddar cheese and cream for creamier fillings or oyster sauce + hoisin sauce + char siew sauce for an oriental style. Sounds good!
Check hers for the original recipe. Here's my slightly modified version to make more tarts.
Easy Chicken Pie
Ingredients (makes eight 6.5cm tarts)
Pastry:
165g plain flour, sifted
100g cold butter
1/2 tbsp sugar
a pinch of salt
25g egg, beaten
1-2 tbsp cold water
Filling:
1 tbsp oil
100g chicken breast meat, diced
1 potato (about 130g), diced
1/2 carrot, diced
some water
1 hard-boiled egg, divide into 8 portions
(* I omitted onions, you can add if you like. You can also add mushrooms, mixed vegetables, or anything you like)
Seasoning:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
some black pepper
Glazing:
1/2 egg, lightly beaten
Method
1. Pastry: Put all ingredients (except egg and water) into a mixing bowl and mix to a crumble. Add in egg, and slowly drizzle in water, just enough to form a soft dough. Keep dough in the fridge and rest for 30 minutes.
2. Filling: Steam diced potato and carrot for 10 minutes, set aside. Heat up oil in wok, fry chicken meat until nearly cooked, add in steamed potato and carrot and some water. Add in seasoning and cook for 5 minutes, or until the mixture has thickened. Adjust the filling to taste and leave to cool for later use.
3. Take some dough and press into pie or tart cases. Poke holes on the base using a fork, place filling and 1 piece of hard-boiled egg each on top and press firmly. Cut another piece of dough to cover the top. Using fork, poke a few more times on the cover of the pie and glaze with beaten egg.
(* for my own reference, 25g for base and 15g for top)
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg C for 30 minutes.
Recipe from: Frozen Wings.
I am submitting this Chicken Pie to Aspiring Bakers #10: Easy as Pie (August 2011), hosted by Not the Kitchen Sink!.