Monday, May 30, 2011

Chicken Pie & I AM BACK!!!

I have been MIA for about seven weeks. I had been down with a very bad flu when I returned from Cambodia which took me about two weeks to recover.

Though I have been cooking and baking, I am just too lazy to post about it. My daughter even commented on the absence of my postings. Apart from that, I have been busy six days a week. My nights are devoted to watching Korean dramas by the episodes. You know how it is like when the episode ends with suspense and it makes you want to continue watching. Ahem! Precisely that's what I have been doing - watching 3 to 4 episodes in a row. You can imagine the time I go to bed, it would be the next day!!! Bad! Bad! Bad! Now I have developed 'panda eyes'!! LoL!

Enough of my ramblings!
I baked these for a ladies' meet last Saturday. It's not the usual shape for a chicken pie. It was a short cut and I don't waste any pastry if I had cut them round. It doesn't matter what shape a pie takes as long as it tastes good.



Puff Pastry

150g plain flour
40g butter
1 egg yolk
30 ml water
a pinch of salt
60g pastry margarine, shredded
1 egg yolk, for glazing the top
1 egg white, for sealing the edges

1. Mix flour and butter with finger tips till it resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Mix egg yolk, salt and water together and pour into flour and mix to form a dough.

3. Roll out dough on floured board or pastry mat into a rectangle shape.

4. Place pastry margarine evenly on two-thirds of dough and fold the one-third dough without the margarine over and then the other with the margarine over.

5. Fold into two and roll into a rectangle and repeat the three folds two times.

6. Then roll out dough to desired thickness and cut into small rectangles or use a round cutter.

7. Egg-wash the pastry with egg white, put filling and fold over and seal the edges. (Egg white acts as glue to seal the edges.) Crimp edge with a fork.

8. Glaze top of pies, prick a couple of holes and bake in preheated oven 170 deg C for 25 to 30 minutes.



A Wokful of Chicken and Mixed Veggies



Fresh from the oven!



Now for a cuppa tea!