Now, I'd be the first to pipe up and mention how I never make savoury food. Never is an exaggeration, but only a slight one in comparison to how many sweets I bake. It's an area I lack confidence in, so when this week's GBBO had a showstopper challenge of banquet pies, where the pies couldn't be baked in a mould, I wanted a go!
Ruby's chicken curry pie, with turmeric hot water crust pastry, a completely home-made chicken curry and spiced rice, looked delicious, and I was really happy to find the recipe :)
I only made a few tweaks, and sadly, did cook my pastry for a little too long - I even reduced the time the recipe stated - so lesson learnt, after 45 minutes, check the pie often so it doesn't catch! Still, even with the browner bits, the pie tasted amazing, and works really well for lunch as well as dinner :)
Makes 1 big pie (easily serves 6-8)
Ingredients:
For the chicken curry:
- 225g (1 cup) new potatoes, quartered
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 2cm cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 star anise
- 2 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 4 cloves
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 bay leaves
- 350g (3 & 1/3 cups) onions, roughly chopped
- 1 heaped tsp ginger & garlic paste
- 1 heaped tsp hot chilli powder
- 1 heaped tsp ground coriander
- 1 heaped tsp ground turmeric
- 1 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 250g (1 & 1/4 cups) tomatoes (I used plum tomatoes), chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 2 tsp salt, plus extra to taste
- 900g (around 8 cups) diced chicken breast
- 1 bunch of coriander, chopped
- 1 1/2 tbsp chopped root ginger
- 50g (1/4 cup) frozen spinach leaves
For the rice filling:
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 25g (2 tbsp) sliced onion
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 200g (1 cup) basmati rice, rinsed in cold water
For the turmeric dough:
- 450g (3 cups) plain flour
- 100g (2/3 cup) strong white bread flour
- 1 tbsp ground turmeric
- 200ml (around 4/5 cup) water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 175g (3/4 cup) lard
- 1 egg, beaten, to glaze
Method:
1. Make the curry. Boil water in a pan and add the potatoes. Cook for 10 minutes, then drain and set aside.
2. Prepare the spice blend by grinding the star anise, cinnamon and cloves in a spice grinder/high powered blender until a fine powder. Stir in the ground cardamom, black pepper and ground cumin.
3. Heat the coconut oil in a large pan and add the spice mix and the bay leaves/ Fry for 1-2 minutes, until they are sizzling. Add the onions and a splash of water, and then cook for about 5 minutes (until the onions have softened).
4. Add the ginger and garlic puree, chilli powder, ground coriander, ground turmeric, salt and garam masala and stir to coat all of the onions in the spices. Cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Add the tomato puree, chopped tomatoes and another splash of water, and then cook for around 8 minutes, checking often that the pan doesn't get too dry. It wants to be fairly dry but I was worried about burning, so added a splash of water now and again to keep the mixture a little wet.
6. Stir in the chopped chicken and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring regularly to make sure all of the chicken is cooked evenly.
7. Add the chopped coriander, chopped ginger and spinach. Allow the spinach leaves to defrost, stir well, then turn off the heat. Transfer the curry to a large baking tray to cool quickly.
8. Make the rice. In a saucepan (that you have a well fitting lid to!), melt the coconut oil, then fry the onions with the salt, garam masala, ground coriander, and ground cumin for 1-2 minutes.
9. Rinse the basmati rice well in cold water, then add to a saucepan with 350ml water. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil. Simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes, until the water has evaporated and the rice is tender. Pour onto a large baking tray and leave to cool.
10. When the curry and rice have cooled, it's time to make the pie! Preheat your oven to 220c (200f)/430f/gas mark 7. Grease the base of an around 28cm pizza dish (or a large enough square dish to fit a 28cm circle on), and line with baking parchment.
11. Make the pastry. Sift together the plain flour, strong white bread flour and turmeric. Meanwhile, pour the water, lard and salt into a saucepan and place on a medium heat.
12. Heat the water/lard/salt until all of the lard has melted and the mixture is bubbling. Take off the heat and pour over the flour mix.
13. Carefully (as at first it will be very hot), bring the dough together with your hands/a wooden spoon (depending on how hot the dough is). Take a third of the dough.
14. Line your surface with clingfilm, and place the 1/3 dough on it, Cover with another layer of film, then roll out until it is bigger than the base of the pizza dish/a 28cm circle. Use a template to evenly cut a 28cm circle, and place the offcuts back with the remaining unrolled dough.
15. Take the top layer of clingfilm off, and then flip onto the prepared tray. Remove the base layer of clingfilm.
16. Spoon the rice on the pastry circle, leaving a 2cm rim around the edge. Spoon over the curry - use a slotted spoon if there seems to be a lot of liquid. Use your hands to mould into a dome.
17.Reserve 100g of the remaining dough, and then roll the remaining dough out as before until it is around a 35cm circle. Carefully transfer over the curry mound, and seal to the dough base. Brush the entire pie with egg wash.
18. Roll the remaining dough out until it is about 35cm long and 5cm wide. Cut into 6 long ribbons, and make two three-strand plaits, and stick to the rim of the pie. With any remaining pastry cut out whatever shapes you like - I went for hearts and people, but it's up to you :)
19. Brush the whole pie (including the decorations) with more egg wash. Bake for 45 minutes.
20. Turn the heat of the oven down to 180c (160c fan)/355f/gas mark 4. Cook for 15 minutes. Check the pie, covering it with foil if it's browning very quickly. Cook for around another 15 minutes until the pastry feels crisp and is golden all over.
21. Leave to cool for a few minutes before serving.
22. Enjoy!
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