Tamilss
IngredientsFor the Pastry
Plain flour (maida) – 200 gms ( 1⅓ cups+2tbsp)
Butter – 100 gms (kept @ room temp for 15 mins)
Egg – 1
Water – 1 tbsp
For the filling
Cooked and shredded chicken – 1 cup
Onion – 1 med-big, finely chopped
Capsicum – 1 small, cut into small cubes
Chopped/grated garlic – 1.5 tsp
Chopped/grated ginger – 1 tsp
Green chilli – 2, chopped
Celery – ¼ cup, chopped
Spring onion – ¼ cup, chopped
Pepper powder – ½ -1 tsp
Salt
Oil – Sunflower/Olive oil
For white sauce
Butter – 1 tbsp (refer notes)
Plain flour – 1 tbsp
Milk – 1 cup
Pepper powder – ¼ tsp
A pinch of Italian seasoning
Instructions
Preheat the oven @ 180 C, 10 mins before baking.
To make the pastry
Rub in the butter cubes to the plain flour till it resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add beaten egg and water (if required) and make a soft dough. Do not knead it too much. Keep the dough in the fridge for a minimum of 25 mins.
To make the filling
Heat oil and add chopped onion ad cubed capsicum. When the onions and capsicum have become soft (it doesn’t have to brown), add grated/chopped ginger,garlic and green chilli. Cook for 2-3 mins. Add chopped celery, spring onion,salt and pepper powder. Cook for 4-5 mins. Add cooked and shredded chicken pieces and mix well. Cook for 2-3 mins, till everything comes together. Switch off the gas and let it cool.
To make white sauce
Melt butter in a sauce pan. When it’s completely melted, add plain flour and stir. Cook for 3-4 mins on low flame, till the raw taste of flour is gone. Make sure it doesn’t turn brown. Add a cup of milk and stir well, so that everything is combined. Keep stirring and make sure that there are no lumps. Add pepper powder, salt and Italian seasoning. When the sauce begins to thicken, switch off the flame and let it cool.
Assembling the pie
Grease the pie tins with butter. Roll out the refrigerated dough depending on the size of the tin you are using. Transfer the rolled out dough to the tin and trim the edges, if required. Prick the base all over with a fork. Bake the pastry in the pre heated oven for 7-8 mins, till the colour of the pastry changes to that of a light biscuit colour.
Meanwhile mix together the white sauce and the chicken filling. Take the baked pastry out of the oven (let the oven be on and keep the oven door closed) and fill it with the chicken and white sauce filling. Make lattice on top (optional) and brush the lattice with a beaten egg.
Return the pies to the oven and bake for 12-15 mins, increase the oven temp to 200 C and bake for 5 more mins, till the lattice has a light golden brown colour.
Remove the pie from the oven. Let it cool in the tin for 5-10 mins. Remove from the pie tin and serve hot/warm. You can have it with some salad on the side.
Notes
I used unsalted butter for making the pastry and the white sauce. You can use salted butter as well, but adjust the qty of salt accordingly in the filling and while making the sauce. I didnt add extra salt to the pastry, but I didnt find it lacking. If you want you can add may be ¼ tsp of salt to the plain flour, if you are using unsalted butter. I used medium size tart tins and I got 7 medium size pies with the above qty. You can use small tart/quiche tin and serve it as an appetiser. Also, you can use a bigger size tart/pie tin and bake it at one go. Adjust the baking time according to the size of your tins and the thickness of the pies. You can make a veg filling by adding mushrooms, broccoli etc, instead of chicken. I stored the left over dough and filling in the fridge for 2 days. If you are using left over dough stored in the fridge, make sure you keep it at room temp for 15-20 mins before rolling it out. The thickness of the base depends on the qty of filling per pie. I used around 55-60 gms of dough per pie. Check out this link to see step by step pics of making lattice: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_a_lattice_top_for_a_pie_crust/
-Mariasmenu.com
