Hairy Bikers curried chicken pie fills turmeric shortcrust with chicken in a spiced yoghurt and onion sauce, plus spinach, almonds and coriander. And their Brilliant Bakes recipe serves 6 in about 3 hours, with marinating and cooling, at around 700 calories each by my sums.
“You can’t beat a chicken pie,” they write, and this one has “an Indian vibe”, with spice in the filling and turmeric in the pastry. And they suggest spreading mango chutney over the pastry base before the filling goes in, for “a blast of that lovely flavour”.
Reducing the sauce until it’s as thick as double cream matters most, because to my mind a runny filling would soak the raw base. So give it the full 20-minute simmer, then let the filling cool properly before it meets the pastry.
Hairy Bikers Curried Chicken Pie Recipe
Description
Chicken spends half an hour in yoghurt, lemon and curry powder before simmering in a paste of onion, ginger and garlic with popped mustard seeds. Then the cooled curry is baked between two layers of golden turmeric pastry.
Ingredients
For the filling
For the pastry
To assemble
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken: Mix the yoghurt, lemon juice and curry powder with 1 tsp of salt and plenty of pepper, then stir in the chicken. Cover and leave for about 30 minutes, putting it in the fridge if it’s any longer.
- Make the onion paste: Blitz the onion, ginger and garlic in a food processor, then heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole and add the mustard seeds. And once they pop, stir in the paste for several minutes until it starts to colour.
- Cook the curry: Stir in the turmeric and tomato purée and cook for a few minutes until the paste starts to separate. Then add the chicken with all its marinade and cook over a high heat for several minutes, stirring regularly. Turn the heat down and simmer gently for about 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the sauce is as thick as double cream.
- Wilt the spinach: Meanwhile, wash the spinach and put it in a saucepan over the heat, with just the water clinging to it, until it wilts. Then drain it thoroughly, chop it and squeeze out as much water as you can.
- Finish the filling: Stir the almonds into the chicken, followed by the spinach and coriander, and taste for seasoning and spice. Then take it off the heat and leave it to cool for about an hour.
- Make the pastry: Mix the flour, turmeric and ½ tsp of salt in a bowl, then rub in the butter. Add just enough iced water to make a smooth dough.
- Line the dish: Roll out two-thirds of the pastry on a floured surface and line a round metal pie dish about 21cm across and 5cm deep. Then chill it while the filling cools, with the rest of the pastry wrapped and chilled too.
- Fill and top: Heat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6, then spread the mango chutney, if using, over the pastry base and add the cooled filling. Roll out the rest of the pastry and lay it over the top. Then seal the edges with beaten egg, crimp them together and brush the top with more egg.
- Bake: Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and piping hot inside. Then serve with a salad or some green veg, as they suggest.
FAQs
Should I use chicken thigh or breast?
Either works, since the recipe asks for 800g of skinless, boneless thigh or breast fillets. But I’d pick thighs, because they stay juicier through a 20-minute simmer and then 30 minutes in the oven.
Thighs do add a little more, though, at around 700 calories a slice by my sums, against about 660 with breast. And for another pie built on thighs, their Basque chicken and chorizo pie pairs them with smoked paprika, peppers and chorizo.
How hot is it?
I’d call it fairly mild, since the spice comes from 1 tablespoon of medium curry powder and some ginger, with no fresh chillies. And the yoghurt and almonds round it off.
So for more kick, I’d use hot curry powder or blitz a green chilli into the onion paste, which is my tweak rather than theirs.
Can I use frozen spinach?
Yes, about 250g of frozen leaf spinach, defrosted, can stand in for the 450g of fresh, though that’s my swap and my estimate. But squeeze it just as hard, since frozen spinach holds plenty of water.
Or for chicken and spinach in a bowl rather than a pie, their chicken and spinach curry cooks 400g of spinach down with red lentils.
Is there a Caribbean version too?
Yes, there’s a second curried chicken pie in Everyday Winners, for 4, with thighs, squash or pumpkin, scotch bonnet and coconut milk. And with its Caribbean flavours and turmeric-yellow pastry, they call it “a bit like a Jamaican patty in pie form”.
That one comes with a mango and lime salsa on the side, rather than chutney under the filling. Or for scotch bonnet and pumpkin without pastry, their Caribbean chicken and pumpkin curry simmers marinated thighs with allspice and lime.
Can I make it ahead or freeze it?
Yes, though this is my approach since the book doesn’t say: cool the filling within 2 hours and chill it for up to 2 days. Then bake as normal, adding about 10 minutes if the filled pie goes in straight from the fridge, until piping hot inside.
I’d also freeze the cooled filling for up to 3 months, then defrost it overnight in the fridge before it goes into the pastry. And because the bake already reheats the filling, I’d eat chilled leftovers cold within 2 days, as the FSA advises reheating only once.
