Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Thai Green Curry Chicken Pies

Thai Green Curry Chicken Pie 6, edited

I don't know about you, but I have a stack of food magazines gathering dust in my living room - actually, if I'm honest, I have two stacks in the living room (which doesn't include the slightly smaller stack on the coffee table), another stack in the bedroom, and yet another stack in the bathroom - okay so I like to read food magazines while I'm lying in the bath every morning - doesn't everyone?  (No visual imaging thanks very much - please just don't go there!)

Now every so often the stacks get a bit of a dust off, and sometimes magazines in one stack change places with those in another stack.  I "oooh" and "aaah" over things, and dog ear the corners of pages of things I want to make (yes, I heard some of you gasp at the mention of dog earing, but honestly I promise I never do this to a book, only magazines), but for some reason I seldom seem to actually cook anything from the mags.  So about a year ago I made a pact with myself - no buying any more magazines until I had cooked something from each and every one of the magazines I already had.  Well, I did stick to one side of the bargain - I haven't bought any more magazines (though I have been sorely tempted), but I still haven't been cooking out of them.

So I've decided that maybe if I make a deal with you, I'll get a bit more disciplined about this and start to whittle my way through the magazine pile.  I'm going to try to cook one recipe a week from one of my magazines and commit to sharing it with you.  Also to try and keep myself on track with my mission, I'm joining in with the Magazine Mondays event hosted by Ivonne over at Cream Puffs in Venice.

I decided to kick this off with Thai Green Curry Chicken Pies, from the August 2004 edition of "ABC delicious" magazine.  Now this was one I had actually made before (probably back in 2004 when I bought the magazine), but it was such a goodie I thought it was worth revisiting and sharing with you.

Thai Green Chicken Curry Pie Recipe
Adapted from
Makes 2 large or 4 small pies
Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1 tablespoon plain flour
salt & pepper
500-600g boneless chicken thighs, cubed
neutral flavoured oil for frying
150g button mushrooms, sliced
Thai green curry paste (see note below)
400ml can coconut cream
2 kaffir lime leaves
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 lime, juice and grated zest
2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
2 sheets puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, beaten

(Note:  the original recipe calls for 4 tablespoons Thai green curry paste - the paste I have is very concentrated and very hot, and 1 heaped teaspoon of mine was plenty (and I don't mind hot), so you will need to judge for yourself how much paste to use)

Season flour with salt and pepper, then toss chicken in the seasoned flour, shaking off any excess.

Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat, and once hot cook chicken pieces until browned all over (you will probably have to do this in batches).

Thai Green Curry Chicken Pie 13, edited

Set chicken pieces aside and add a little more oil to the pan if necessary.  Add the mushrooms to the pan, and cook for a couple of minutes.

Thai Green Curry Chicken Pie 12, edited

Add the curry paste to the pan, and cook for another minute, stirring constantly.  Return the chicken pieces to the pan, stir to coat well with the curry paste.  Then add the coconut cream, kaffir lime leaves, frozen peas, lime juice and grated zest.

Thai Green Curry Chicken Pie 11, edited

Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes.  Remove the kaffir lime leaves, stir in the coriander, and then set aside to cool.

(This dish can be made ahead up to this stage - if doing so, now put this mixture into an air-tight container and refrigerate until ready to use.)

Thai Green Curry Chicken Pie 10, edited

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Set your pastry sheets out on your work bench;  cut a 1cm strip from each side of the pastry;  set one of your bowls or pie dishes in the middle of the pastry sheet and cut a circle about 1cm larger than your bowl.

Thai Green Curry Chicken Pie 1, edited

Now divide the chicken mixture between your bowls.  Press the pastry strips around the edges of each bowl, and brush each one with water.

Thai Green Curry Chicken Pie 8, edited

Place a pastry lid over the top of each bowl, press firmly onto the pastry rims to seal (I like to use the back of a fork), and trim away any surplus with a knife.  Make some holes in the top to allow steam to escape.

Thai Green Curry Chicken Pie 7, edited

Brush the top of each pie with beaten egg, then bake for about 20 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden brown.

Thai Green Curry Chicken Pie 2, edited

Yes, I did use store-bought pastry, and I did use a store-bought curry paste - so go ahead and shoot me!  As I've told you before, I don't believe that being a busy person means that you have to compromise on what you eat and feed your family - with just a couple of little shortcuts, and a bit of forward planning it's easy to dish up a great meal without having to resort to "drive-through".  Yes, I do like to keep my food real and as unprocessed as possible, but sometimes "keeping it real" means I have to cut a corner or too - and, if I'm to be perfectly honest, even if I'd had the time I doubt if I would have made my own pastry!  That's just a leap too far for me - one day, maybe.

This made a great mid-week meal for me - I was able to make the chicken filling in the morning (it could just as easily have been made the day before);  assemble the pies late afternoon before I went off to teach my yoga class;  and then as soon as I'd finished work all I had to do was pop them in the oven for 20 minutes - just enough time to dress a few crisp, green salad leaves and pour a glass of pinot gris!

I will definitely be making this again, and I think that next time I will actually double the quantity of filling so I can freeze a batch to make my life even easier!


I'm submitting this post to the Hearth and Soul blog hop, a place where you'll find lots of wonderful people who are passionate about great food and cooking from the heart - do go and have a look at what they're all cooking this week.

I'm also submitting this post to Magazine Mondays - mmmm, can't wait to see what else is cooking.

35 comments:

  1. You're a great writer and I have fun reading your post :) Now, that recipe looks soooooo wonderful. What a neat way to put the top crust on too. My husband would love this dish and I have green curry paste in the fridge now. Thanks for the inspiration and visiting my site :)

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  2. Hi Sue! Thanks for stopping by! To answer your question, all you have to do is link to our Sundays at One Food Club every Sunday, and that is it! :) You can post about anything food related. Hope you can join us next week. Angie

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  3. What a beautiful pie! Great idea with cutting the puff pastry, and I would not make mine either! These pies will be fun to make, since they are beautiful, they will be served with pride. Thanks so much.

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  4. How delicious. I love Thai curry, so I think this would be the ideal chicken pie for me.

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  5. That is an excellent idea! I'm not exactly a baker (meaning I'm a disaster) so I agree with you re: store-bought pastry. Not a problem.

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  6. What a beautiful pie!!! Yum. I don't have magazines but I do have a lot of cookbooks I have never actually cooked out of. Thanks for sharing with us at the hearth and soul hop!

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  7. I love curry and most Thai food actually. The pasty top is so beautiful. Why not use a shortcut? Better than not to bake or cook at all.

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  8. I love Thai curries and would have never thought to use one in a pot pie!! Looking forward to your other mag recipes!

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  9. Oh, that just looks divine!!

    Oh - I, too, have stacks and stacks on cooking magazines in my home. I am currently in the process of going through them, clipping out the recipes I wish to keep, & putting those recipes in a binder with photo album sheets to store them!

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  10. Sue, that just plain looks killer good, I don't know what else to say. I love green curry, so this dish looks amazing to me. Thanks for sharing at the Hearth and Soul hop.

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  11. OMG...that looks yum....I was about to make chicken pot pies next week with indian curry but you ve confused me nw with those beautiful pictures!!! yum yum yum!

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  12. Sue, this is really yummy, love the way you prepare the filling...

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  13. I could have written that part about the stacks of food magazines! My husband is always getting annoyed when more come in the mail considering I have stacks upon stacks of ones that I have not even had a chance to look at yet. But there is something about them that i could never give up...
    This recipe looks wonderful!! I would love to try this as a gluten free version.

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  14. What a beautiful crust! Haven't had a potpie in ages, and this makes me want one right now!

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  15. What a fabulous pie! Looks absolutely delicious! I bet the green curry would go great with plain white rice too! Thanks for sharing this!

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  16. This recipe sounds really good as does the determination to cook from the magazines you have. I had a subscription to Bon Appetit' from 1983 up to a couple of years ago, I have two floor to ceiling bookshelves with Bon Appetit' magazines running along all the bottom shelves. Now while I have cooked several recipes from the magazine and it helped me learn to cook and be creative with food, I have found that several issues were only looked at. Once those bottom shelves were full I decided it was time to stop the subscription and cook from what I already have.

    -Brenda

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  17. I, too, have a stack of cooking magazines on my kitchen counter. I make the recipes occasionally but not as often as I should. I love Fine Cooking Magazine. This pie looks like a keeper for sure!

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  18. This pie looks just marvelous. Store bought pastry does make our lives a lot easier. Thanks for a nice recipe.

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  19. Oh let's please not discuss all of the magazines that I have. Or how many piles.

    I love your goal of systematically cooking out of them! Especially if all the recipes are going to be as intriguing as these thai green curry pies! I love a good curry and this one sounds delicious!

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  20. It would be an understatement for me to tell you I feel your pain! I can't seem to part with all my magazines, yet I'm reasonably sure I'll never get through half the recipes in a quarter of them.

    This recipe sounds amazing. Chicken pot-pie with a fantastic twist! Thanks for sharing ;)
    Michele

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  21. OMG - thank you all for visiting and so many lovely comments.

    I'm so pleased so many of you seem to really like this recipe - it really is a good one, so I hope some of you try it.

    I can see that I am definitely not alone with my magazine stacks :-) I neglected to also mention the big pile of recipes clipped from a few other big stacks of magazines I have already disposed of - now I need a project to get through those as well! Wonder if there is some kind of support group for this kind of "disorder" - "Umm, hello, my name is Sue. It is one year since I bought my last foodie magazine, and it is one week since I cooked out of one of them." Oh yes, I think I'm making progress :-)

    Sue

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  22. I have the same problem with cooking magazines! I love to browse through them, but I really need to use the recipes in them as well.
    Your chicken pies look so delicious! (And I see absolutely nothing wrong with taking shortcuts like using pre-made pastry!)

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  23. Thanks scrambledhenfruit - think cooking magazines used to be a real addiction with me - I couldn't got to the supermarket without buying one! Pleased to know pre-rolled pastry works for you too :-)
    Sue

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  24. delicious pies lovely step by step instructions

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  25. They look and sound delicious! I'm new here and really like your blog. Great writing! That peach cake below looks yummy! I'll enjoy looking around now!

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  26. Suzy Q, You so make me laugh! Reading in the bath? I read in the toilet too! LOL and I dont care who knows it! These pies look so yummy! I also laughed at your just shoot me comment! Those pies are probably so good, the joy you feel eating them will far outweigh the bit of commercial pastry! Hugs and thanks for sharing on the hearth and soul hop this week! Alex@amoderatelife

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  27. Torviewtoronto - thanks so much.

    Pam - thanks for being a new visitor here and your lovely comment - hope you'll come again soon.

    Hey Alex - pleased I brought you a little mirth - I'm trying not to think about you sitting on the toilet :-)

    Andreas - thanks so much and thanks for dropping by.

    Sue

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  28. You don't even want to see my magazine piles and my clipped recipes are in a scary stack too. ;-) These pies look delicious--I love anything with Thai flavors and who can resist pot pies?!

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  29. Thanks Deb - seems like the magazine pile is a common dilemna in these circles :-)
    Sue

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  30. I am most familiar with that dusty pile of magazines!!! Thanks for joining MM and love the recipe!

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  31. Thanks creampuff - looking forward to being a regular participant at Magazine Mondays.
    Sue

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  32. Hey Sue,
    liked your recipe sooo much that I made the pot pie with thai red curry and posted today.I have linked it to your post as an inspiration.Have a look and thanks so much for the idea!

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  33. Hi sinfullyspicy - thanks for visiting. Making a thai red curry is a great interpretation of the recipe - thanks so much for the mention. I have also done this with butter chicken, which I'm sure you'd enjoy - flaky pastry with butter chicken is a beautiful combo.
    Sue :-)

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