These tasty little pies pack a punch. They are a great little addition to a picnic. They'll be snapped up in a heartbeat. I made these with chicken but I've also made veggie versions and they are equally as tasty. A little spoon of a sweet chutney with these would top them off nicely. I'm all about making life easier so I used two hacks, the first is with a pre-made Thai green curry paste and the second is with pre-made short crust pastry. The curry paste that I used is a brand called Maesri. a little goes a long way as it's pretty spicy.
Makes 12 pies
1/2 yellow pepper, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
100g courgette, diced
500g chicken thigh, chopped
4 shallots, finely diced
2 tbsp. of Thai green curry paste
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tin (400ml) of coconut milk
150ml chicken stock
4 pre-made sheets of short crust pastry
1 beaten egg for sealing and glazing
2 tbsp. oil
30g flour for dusting the surface and rolling pastry
3 sprigs of coriander, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste
Oil spray
Method
Heat a large frying pan on a medium heat. Add half the oil and heat, then add the shallots. Sauté until starting to go soft. Add the peppers and courgette and cook until soft. Transfer vegetables onto a plate.
Add the remainder of the oil and add the chicken. Cook until lightly browned. Transfer to the plate. Turn down the heat slightly. Add the paste and the garlic and fry for a minute or so.
Re-add the chicken and vegetables followed by the stock. Bring the heat back up to medium.
Allow the stock to simmer down and then stir in the coconut milk. Stir in some salt and pepper.
Allow the sauce to reduce. Stir in the chopped coriander.
Turn off the heat while you get on with making the pie bases and lids.
Heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and 356 degrees Fahrenheit.
Clear and clean a space on your benchtop. Sprinkle the majority of the flour on the benchtop and rub a bit on your rolling pin.
Grab a muffin tray and spray each well with the spray oil.
Lay out your sheet of short crust pastry and roll out to 1cm thick. You will need 2 different size pastry cutters. If you are like me and didn't know which ones to use, just try cutting an initial round and sit it into the greased muffin well. The pastry should come right up to the top of well if not a slight bit over. If it doesn't try again with another size. I cut out the bases first and placed them in the muffin wells.
Fill the pie bases with the curry mixture almost to the top.
Brush a little bit of the egg mixture around the edges of the pastry to help seal the bases and lids.
Cut out the lids and place on top. If you have some pastry leftover, you can cut out a few leaves for decoration or you can leave them plain. Either way brush the top of each pie with the remaining egg to give them a bit of a glaze.