chicken pie

I like eating chicken pie. Somehow, I prefer it to curry puff, tuna puff or sausage roll. Hans Cafe sells a regular-sized chicken pie and an extra-large chicken pie called "Carbonara Pie". The difference is that the Carbonara Pie is larger than the regular-sized chicken pie and also contains herbs and vegetables.

In the past, whenever I cooked anything that involved potatoes (eg. curry chicken), I would boil the potatoes first because they take longer to cook. However, I have since learned from my brother (LG) that I should fry the potatoes first till they are golden brown before I proceed to cook the rest of the dish.

It is not difficult to make your own chicken pie. There is a fair amount of work involved but it is worth it. The pastry should be prepared a day before and refrigerated so that it is firm enough to roll out.

INGREDIENTS (pastry)

150g butter
250g plain flour
1 tsp castor sugar
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried rosemary leaves
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
100g plain yoghurt


INGREDIENTS (filling)

olive oil (for frying)
2 large potatoes (diced)
2 large red onions (diced)
2 sticky celery (sliced)
2 carrots (diced)
1 can peas
1 can young corn (sliced)
1 can sliced mushroom
2 pieces of chicken breast (sliced)
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp water
1 tbsp fine sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce
freshly grated sea salt
freshly grated black peppercorn
freshly grated white peppercorn
1 egg (for glazing)

METHOD (pastry)

1. Rub the butter in the flour in a mixing bowl until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Add the sugar, egg yolk, salt, dried rosemary leaves and dried thyme leaves. Mix well.

3. Add the plain yoghurt. Use the electric mixer (and dough hook) and mix to a dough.

4. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and refrigerate overnight.


METHOD (filling)

1. Fry the potatoes in oil until golden brown. Set aside.

2. Fry the red onions, celery and carrots until soft.

3. Add the peas, corn, mushroom and chicken breast and continue frying.

4. Add the potatoes and mix well.

5. Add 1/2 cup water and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

6. Add the sugar, oyster sauce, sea salt, black peppercorn and white peppercorn.

7. Add the cornstarch and stir until the mixture thickens.

8. Cool and set aside.

METHOD (pie)

1. Grease two 8" diameter pie dishes and set aside.

2. Divide the dough into two equal halves (that is, one per pie dish).

3. Further divide each half of the dough into two. This time, do not divide into equal halves. One of the halves should be slightly bigger than the other half. The bigger half is intended to cover the base of the pie dish whereas the small half is to cover the top of the pie.

4. Roll out each piece of dough.

5. Line the bigger pieces of rolled-out dough at the bottom and side of the pie dish. Poke holes at the base using a fork.

6. Divide the filling into two portions and place each portion in each pie dish.

7. Cover the pie with the smaller piece of rolled-out dough. Poke holes at the top of the pie using a fork. Press the fork around the edge of the crust. Trim off any excess dough using a butter knife and use the excess dough to create designs on top of the pie (see for example, the design of the leaf in the photograph below).

8. Brush the top of the pie with a beaten egg.

9. Bake the pies in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 30 minutes.