Chicken curry pasties

introduction

I adore a pasty and can easily snaffle several of them, irrespective of the filling.

They are also a great way to use left-overs or general odds and sods lurking in the fridge or freezer. For these I simply used some chicken thighs, onions, carrots, potatoes and frozen peas, cooked off with curry spices before encasing in the pastry.

However, I sometimes just use any left-over curry from a previous meal: Nisha Katona’s 30-minute Mowgli book has a stunning chicken keema recipe that I sometimes use for these.

When making from scratch, I add most of the filling ingredients to the food processor and pulsed until it the chicken and vegetables broke down somewhat, but not quite to a mush. However, you can simply chop the filling ingredients up finely. The trick, though, is keeping some identifiable pieces of vegetables – not least for texture.

I’ve gone fairly mild on the heat front, but you can amp up the heat. You can also add all manner of other goodies: chopped chillies, ginger, different vegetables (cauliflower is wonderful!), using mince lamb or left-over cooked meat from a roast..…….

A good shop-bought shortcrust or puff pastry is great but I made a quick shortcrust on the food mixer that I flavoured with curry spices so that the filling is not the only star of the show!

Recipe: chicken curry pasties – makes 6

Pastry:

• 160g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 40g unsalted butter
• 40g lard
• 2-3 tablespoons cold water to mix

Filling:

• 2 small chicken thighs, bones and skin removed
• 1 large onion, peeled and very roughly chopped
• 1 carrot, lightly chopped – no need to peel
• 2-3 tablespoons frozen peas
• 3-4 small salad potatoes, sliced thinly – no need to peel
• 3 teaspoons curry paste of choice
• 1 teaspoon mango chutney or lime pickle
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil for frying

To finish:

• 1 egg, beaten
• cumin seeds, optional

You also need a baking sheet lined with greaseproof and should preheat the oven to 190°C(fan)

Make the pastry:

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