Chicken Pie Recipe National Pie Week

Who doesn’t love a pie, no matter what week it is? Steak and kidney, chicken and leek or even a pork pie – they’re all delicious!

We wanted to bring a taste of the exotic to a pie to commemorate National Pie Week. And as we’re all fans of a bit of spice here at SK Foods, it seemed right to take inspiration from ingredients we use a lot.

So here’s our National Pie Week celebration pie – it’s got warmth from the spices, tons of flavour and is a true comfort food in this continued cold weather. It’s big enough for four to six people, but it’s so tasty, you might not want to share! Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients, it’s straight-forward and is bound to have your family asking for a bigger slice of the pie!

For the MARINATED CHICKEN FILLETS

Ingredients:

• 800g Diced chicken breast / or thigh, about 2-3cm diced
• 100g full fat yoghurt
• 1tbsp minced garlic
• 1tbsp of minced ginger
• 1/2 tbsp of chilli powder
• 1 tbsp of corn flour (it will bind the yoghurt and stop it from sticking)
• 1 1/2 tbsp of chopped fresh coriander (leaves and stalks)
• 0.5 tbsp of salt

For the spicy and delicious sauce SAUCE BASE

Ingredients:

• 60g Ghee or oil
• 1tbsp flat of each: black mustard seeds, crushed coriander seeds, cumin seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp of fresh coriander
• 1 tsp dried mint (or 1tbsp chopped fresh mint)
• 1 tsp of garam masala (you will add this ingredient when assembling the pie)
• 400g chopped tomatoes
• 400g of 2cm diced butternut squash
• 400g of 2cm chopped sweet potato
• 50g of tomato purée
• 50g of water mixed with 20g of cornflour for thickening the product
• 150g Paneer cheese, diced
• 100g green peas
• 100g 1cm diced carrots

To make the PIE PRETTY

Ingredients:

• Puff pastry – block of 400g (the quantity required will depend on how wide your pie dish is)
• Sprinkle of black onion seeds
• Chopped onion bhajis
• Egg wash: use egg yolk for intense gloss and glaze

Methodology:

Chicken:

1. Mix the marinated chicken ingredients together. Let the chicken marinate  for a minimum of  2 hours or overnight
2. Place on the baking tray and cook under preheated grill or salamander until cooked through
3. Chill and set aside

Sauce:

1. Cook onions in ghee or oil until translucent for minimum of 10 mins
2. Add the spices and cook until fragrant; about 5 mins
3. Add the remaining vegetables, tomato purée and cover with enough water to immerse the vegetables completely in liquid – cook for 20 mins, simmering until tender (you will cook the pie again in the oven so don’t worry if vegetables are too al dente)
4. After 20 mins, add the solution of cornflour and water and bring to the boil. Make sure the consistency of the base sauce is nice and thick so the pie is not wet
5. Let it cool and set aside ready for the assembly. You can store the whole mix in the fridge overnight and assemble before cooking

Bringing it together:

• Preheat the oven to 180C or 200C conventional oven
• Mix diced cubes of paneer cheese together with the chicken
• Put enough sauce to cover the bottom of the dish
• Scatter cooked, marinated chicken and paneer cubes /chunks on top of the sauce
• Cover with the rest of the vegetable sauce

NOTE: there should be enough mix to make up one rather very large or two to three medium pie dishes. You can retain the leftover sauce and chicken and serve with rice as a normal curry dish.

• Roll the puff pastry in 0.5cm thickness (roughly one pound coin) and cut into desired shape to cover the pie. I’ve cut up my pastry into  triangles and assembled them in order to create splits which expose the pie fill. You can add shredded onion bhajis 10 mins before the end of cooking time. This will give you added texture and flavour dimensions
• Place the assembled pie in the middle of the oven and cook for 30-35 mins. Then scatter the onion bhajis between the splits and bake for a further 10 mins

Serving suggestions:

Serve with acidic yogurt and wedge of limes and coriander (I’ve used baby coriander shoots from my greengrocer – they look beautiful and taste great)

About Neil Shaefer

Marketing & Communications Executive of SK Foods.

Your food. Our Passion.

View all posts by Neil Shaefer | https://www.skfoods.co.uk