Chicken & Potato Mince Pie

There's nothing like a warm, delicious meat pie to satisfy your 'comfort food' cravings. It's almost like being enveloped in a soft blanket on a cold winter's evening. I came up with this recipe while having one of those cravings.

I made two pies because on that day I had company at home. But the recipe I've given below gives you a pie dough for 1 pie. IN addition, I used wheat flour for the dough. But you can substitute with regular all-purpose flour as well.

The filling is for two pies, but hey... you can always freeze the balance and use it on another day or halve the recipe according to your requirement! So let's begin...

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The Easy Peasy Oil Crust

Ingredients:

2 & a ½ cups of all purpose / whole wheat flour

1 & 1/2 tbsp of sugar

½ tsp salt

1/2 cup full cream milk

½ cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp chilli flakes

1 tsp dried rosemary

NOTE: This dough recipe can be used to make both savoury and sweet pies.

If you're making a sweet pie such as an apple pie, make sure to leave out the chilli flakes and rosemary!!!!!

I used a food processor to knead the dough but you can do it by hand as well.

In a bowl add all the dry ingredient - flour, sugar, salt, chilli flakes and rosemary.

Mix it well using a fork.

Then add the oil and milk and blend again using the fork.

This dough will be a little sticky.

Now remove it from the bowl and place it on a floured surface.

Quickly bring it together to form a nice ball.

You can use it immediately, but for best results cover the dough with a cling film and leave to rest for about 15 to 30 minutes.

The Stuffing

This is a delicious filling incorporating minced chicken and spaghetti together with a bunch of other ingredients.

If you don't have canned spaghetti loops, you can always substitute with pre-boiled pasta or even leave it out.

In this recipe I have used canned mushrooms, but you can always opt for fresh instead.

Ingredients:

Main:

400 g minced chicken

1 can spaghetti loops

1/4 cup red bell peppers, chopped

1/4 cup yellow bell peppers, chopped

400g can of mushroom pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tbsp garlic, chopped

1/2 tbsp ginger, chopped

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1 & 1/2 tsp pepper powder

1 tbsp red chilli powder or to taste

Salt to taste

1 tsp roasted curry powder

1 inch cinnamon stick

2 cardamons

3 cloves

1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 tbsp coconut oil

For The Potato Mash:

1 large potato

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp pepper powder

Salt to taste

Method:

Get all your ingredients ready. This will really ease your cooking process and help you to be better organised in the kitchen!

Peel and cut up the potato into cubes.

Bring water to a boil in a pan.

Add the potatoes and boil for about 10 - 12 minutes.

Drain and while it is still warm, add the butter, pepper and salt to taste.

Mash and leave aside.

Heat oil in a wok. Add the minced chicken and cook until well browned.

Add the onion, garlic, ginger and stir fry for a couple minutes.

Add the red and yellow bell peppers along with the mushrooms and combine well.

Now add the pepper powder, red chilli powder, salt, curry powder, cinnamon stick, cardamons and cloves.

Stir-fry for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the tomato sauce along with the spaghetti hoops and mix well.

Switch the flame off and then add the parsley.

Combine well and leave aside to cool down.

Assemble the pie

Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 4 (350 degree F).

Grease a baking dish. You can also use an oil spray or vegetable oil to do this.

Divide the dough ball into two, keeping one piece a little more than the other.

The lesser one will form our pie covering.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the bigger piece. I find it best to do this by placing the dough between two sheets of parchment paper. Otherwise it can get quite sticky.

Now remove the rolled out pastry and place it in the pie dish.