This is a regular in our family, Ebrahim's most favorite lunch, snack, dinner, and even breakfast (when possible!).
The crust takes some time to prepare so you might want to start off early.
Mix together 2.5 cups white flour, 1 tsp salt, and 2 tbsp sugar in a food processor. Add 1 cup, unsalted butter, cubed and chilled. Blend till mixture becomes a course mix. Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of ice cold water and mix in short bursts. Don't over mix - the consistency will be right when the flour comes together very slightly and sticks together if you pinch between your fingers.
Transfer the mix to a parchment paper and knead very slightly, just enough so all the flour comes together to form a dough. This pie is covered from the top so you will need two sheets of pie, bottom and top crusts. Split the dough into two unequal parts since the top crust will need less dough than the bottom crust.
Wrap each ball in plastic and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours. The picture below shows more than the recipe originally yields. I increased the amounts so I could make some smaller sized pies as well.
For the filling, boil 1/2 lb chicken (boneless or bone-in) till cooked. Add the salt to the boiling water so you don't have to season it later. Shred the cooked chicken and keep aside.
In a frying skillet, saute a couple of cloves of chopped garlic and add vegetables of your choice (peas, chopped carrots, sweet corn, potatoes, mushrooms) and season with salt, pepper, and paprika. When the vegetables are cooked, add the shredded chicken and mix well. Take off the heat, and into a mixing bowl. Add 3 tbsp of cream cheese (I use garlic and herb flavored cream cheese) and 3 tbsp of Mayo. Mix till sauce and filling are combined evenly. You may want to adjust the Mayo and Cream Cheese to reach your desired consistency of creaminess.
Note: Don't put all the vegetables together in one go. The ones that take longer to cook, like potatoes, go in first, and the ones that take the least time, like sweet corn and mushrooms, go in last. All vegetables should be cooked through and not mushy.
To prepare the crust, take the larger ball of dough (for the bottom crust) and leave it to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes - or till it becomes just soft enough so you can roll it out or flatten it with your hands. For those in tropical climates, leaving it out for 10 minutes in the summer time will be too long. If the dough becomes too soft then it will be too sticky to roll out. If it is soft enough that you can flatten it slightly with the palm of your hand, you can start rolling it.
One easy way to roll out the dough is to keep the dough between two layers or parchment paper so the rolling pin does not come in direct contact with the dough. Flatten it out to fit the size of your pie pan. Add the filling and put it back in the fridge while you do the same to prepare the top crust.
When the top crust is rolled to the right size, layer it on top of the pie, pinch together the sides using your fingers. Once the pie is sealed you can press down the edges with a fork, or with the handle of a fork.
Poke some holes on the top with a fork to allow steam to escape while the pie bakes. Lightly brush the top with some milk - this is to evenly brown the top of the pie.
Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 F for 30 - 40 minutes or till the top is evenly browned and the edges are not stuck to the pan.
After it is baked, remove from oven and leave it to rest for 20 minutes before you cut it. If you cut it immediately the filling will be runny and will ooze out of the pie when you cut out a slice.
You can also use the same recipe to make smaller snack-sized pies. They are a hit with kids for school lunch time and at parties!
They freeze really well too. So you can make small pies ahead of time and freeze them (uncooked). To cook, bake directly at 350 F for 40-45 minutes till tops are browned (no need to defrost). Don't forget to brush the tops with milk before popping in the oven!
No comments:
Post a Comment