Chicken Pastry

• portions: 6 servings
• temps actif: 15 minutes
• temps total: 1 hour

Ingrédients

1 big chicken breast

2-3 cloves of garlic

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

salt

1 cup water

1 tbsp oil

30g butter, unsalted (2 tbsps)

1 small onion, chopped

1 tbsp plain flour/all purpose flour

75ml milk (1/4 cup + 1 tbsp)

1/2 of a red pepper

1/2 of a green pepper

2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp chicken stock powder

2 pinches chilli flakes

40ml double cream/heavy cream (2 tbsps + 2 tsps)

3-4 tbsps water

1 egg, beaten

puff pastry squares/puff pastry sheet

Instructions

fill a pot with water, garlic cloves, cumin seeds and your chicken breast. be sure to salt the water. add just enough water for there to be none leftover once the chicken is boiled. this will be ensure that the chicken absorbs the flavours of all the ingredients that we added.

once the chicken is done, set it aside to cool.

once the chicken has cooled, shred it with a fork or with your hands, then add this to a bowl and set aside.

cook onions: in a pan, warm some oil and add butter. let the butter melt, then add chopped onions. stir as your cook the onions over medium heat for around 2 minutes or until translucent.

making the roux: add flour to the pan and keep stirring this. cook over medium heat for around a minute to cook the flour taste out.

add milk: gradually add milk to the pan as you stir it in. keep stirring to avoid any clumps. bring the mixture to a boil, constantly stirring as you do this.

add filling ingredients: at this point, your sauce will have thickened up. add peppers or your choice of vegetables as well as your shredded chicken and mix those in with the sauce.

season: to the mixture, add black pepper, chicken stock powder and red chilli flakes. you can adjust these to your taste and also add salt if you'd like to. mix these into the mixture.

add heavy cream and water: add heavy cream for extra richness and mix that into the filling. then, add water and mix that in. cover the pan with a lid, and leave the mixture to cook at low-medium heat for around 5 minutes. keep an eye on the mixture at this stage to make sure the mixture doesn't cook for too long and dry out. then, remove the mixture from the pan and set it aside to cool.

add to pastry: once the mixture has cooled, add a generous amount of the chicken pastry filling to one side of each puff pastry sheet. make sure to leave a small gap at the edge so that there is enough space to seal the pastry sheet properly when you close it.

seal pastry: close up the chicken pastry, and press a fork firmly over the edges to seal up each side. make sure there are no gaps so that the chicken pastry filling doesn't escape. then, add some slits to the top of the pastry with a knife.

brush with egg wash: in a small bowl, lightly beat an egg. use a silicone brush to brush the egg on top of each pastry.

bake: preheat your oven to 220°c (430°f) around ten minutes before baking. sprinkle your chicken pastries with sesame seeds and black seeds for some extra colour and crunch, then bake the chicken pastries at 200°c (400°f) for around 20 minutes.

wait for your pastries to cool and let's eat!