Mini Chicken Pies...

Ramadan came and went, leaving me with a ton of recipes in my draft. I haven't had the time to sit and calmly go through it all, but I am hoping to get on top of it soon. :) It was during that time I had asked my cousin Jasmin, a very passionate cook, if she would be interested in sharing some of her tried and tested Ramadan specialties on my blog. She happily accepted and forwarded a few recipes that were made often at her home for Iftar. She lives in the beautiful city of Hyderabad with her husband and lovely daughter Aaliyah. So, over to her and her delicious chicken pies...

"I love to cook and click pictures of anything and everything experimented in my workshop(kitchen :))...my husband is my sole motivator who puts in lots of suggestions in improving my cooking and we share a common passion for food :)..
When aishu itha asked me to do a guest post for her blog, i was surprised and thrilled, as it would be my first guest post ever and being part of her beautiful blog is actually something really special. we discussed about a few recipes and finalised this simple yet wonderful chicken pie dish..this is a very simple pie even though the recipe looks bit lengthy, but it tastes just like the ones we buy from bakery. I made this twice for iftar this ramadan and it came out really well.."

recipe courtesy: marias menu

Ingredients

for pastry: 

• All purpose flour - 1 1/4 cup 
• Butter - 100g (kept at room temperature for 15 min) 
• Egg - 1 
• Water - 1 tbsp

for filling:

• Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp 
• Onion - 1 big, finely chopped 
• Capsicum - 1 medium, finely chopped 
• Ginger - 1 tsp grated 
• Garlic - 2 tsp grated 
• Green chilly - 1 
• Chicken (cooked and shredded) - 1 cup 
• Celery - 1/4 cup, chopped 
• Spring onion - 1/4 cup, chopped 
• Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp 
• Salt to taste 

for white sauce:

• Butter-2 tbsp 
• All purpose flour -1 tbsp 
• Milk -1 cup 
• Italian seasoning -1 tsp 
• Pepper powder - a pinch 

Method:

• Preheat oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes before baking 
• Mix the flour and butter, rub to form a crumbly mixture. Add beaten egg and water to this mixture and form a soft dough. Do not knead too much. Keep the dough in the fridge for half an hour. 
• In the meanwhile start making the filling. Heat oil in a pan, add onion and capsicum and saute till they become soft, no need to brown them. Then add garlic,ginger and green chilly, saute for 2-3 min. Then add celery and spring onion along with salt and pepper powder. Add the shredded chicken and mix well. Cook for few minutes and switch off flame 
• To make white sauce: Heat another pan and add butter and plain flour, and saute on low flame till raw smell goes. Then add milk to it and stir well so that no lumps are formed. Add pepper powder and italian seasoning, when sauce begins to thicken switch off flame. 
• Now mix the chicken filling and white sauce, combine well and keep aside. 
• Grease pie tins with butter. Take the dough from fridge and roll out the dough. Shape them according to the size of your pie tins and transfer them to the pie tins, trim the sides if necessary. Prick the base all over with a fork. Bake the pastry for about 7-8 minutes at 180 degrees till it turns light biscuit colour. 
• Once its done take the baked pastry out of the oven and fill them with the chicken white sauce filling. 
• Now make the lattice on top of the pastry by cutting thin long straight stripes from the rolled dough and placing it on top of the pastry as shown in the picture. Brush the top of lattice with a beaten egg. 
• Now place the pie tins in the oven and bake them for 12 -15minutes 
• Increase the temperature to 200 degrees and bake for 5 more minutes till lattice turns light golden brown colour. 
• Remove the pie tin from the oven and allow to cool for few minutes. Transfer to a serving plate and have it warm..and enjoy...... 

Notes:

• Adjust the quantity of salt depending on whether you use salted or unsalted butter. 
• Adjust the baking time depending on the thickness of the pie and size of baking tins used. 
• I got 10 chicken pies from the above recipe using a muffin tray.