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Serves: 8
Prep time: 1 hr
Total time:
Recipe photograph by Maja Smend
Recipe by Debbie Major
A comforting family dish to get in the freezer, ready for when you fancy a day off from cooking over the holidays. Or, if you’d rather, make it between Christmas and New Year using leftover roast turkey instead
Serves: 8
Prep time: 1 hr
Total time:
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
773Kcal
Fat
40gr
Saturates
17gr
Carbs
55gr
Sugars
13gr
Protein
45gr
Salt
1.5gr
Debbie Major
Cook, writer and food stylist, Debbie's reputation for foolproof, delicious recipes is second to none. She is renowned for her dedication to seasonal home cooking and her love of all things rustic and authentic. Simplicity over cheffy is her motto!
See more of Debbie Major’s recipes
Debbie Major
Cook, writer and food stylist, Debbie's reputation for foolproof, delicious recipes is second to none. She is renowned for her dedication to seasonal home cooking and her love of all things rustic and authentic. Simplicity over cheffy is her motto!
See more of Debbie Major’s recipes
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Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, about 2kg
- 1 carrot, peeled and sliced
- 1 large celery stick, sliced
- 4 garlic cloves
- 7.5cm piece root ginger, peeled
- 2 bay leaves
- 65g butter
- 2 leeks (about 275g), trimmed, cleaned and sliced
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp korma curry paste
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1⁄4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 65g plain flour
- 1 x 200ml carton coconut cream, or coconut milk
- 150g dried apricots, thickly sliced
- 2 tbsp mango chutney, any chunks finely chopped
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 x 30g pack coriander, chopped
For the pastry
- 350g plain flour
- 3⁄4 tsp fine sea salt
- 95g cold butter, diced
- 95g chilled lard or vegetable shortening, diced
- 1 medium egg yolk, for glazing
Step by step
Get ahead
The pie filling and pastry can be frozen, separately, up to a month ahead.
- Start by poaching the chicken – this gives the very best pie filling. Remove any bindings from the chicken and place in a large pan or casserole with the carrot, celery, 2 sliced garlic cloves and 5cm of sliced ginger, the bay leaves, 1⁄2 teaspoon salt and 2.5 litres water. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat, cover and leave to simmer for 45 minutes. Lift the chicken out onto a plate and leave until cool enough to handle (if you have time, leave it to cool in the liquid, for the most succulent chicken). Strain the stock, discarding the veg. Return it to the pan, skimming off any fat, and boil rapidly until reduced to 750ml. Set aside in a jug.
- Melt half the butter in the same pan, add the leeks, cover and cook gently for 4 minutes until just tender. Spoon onto a plate.
- Cook the onion gently in the rest of the butter for 7-8 minutes until soft but not browned. Crush in the remaining garlic and grate in the rest of the ginger, and cook for 1 minute more. Add the korma curry paste and the spices and fry for a further 2 minutes.
- Stir in the flour and cook for a few seconds, then remove the pan from the heat and gradually stir in the reduced chicken stock and the coconut cream. Return to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring. Add the dried apricots and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove the skin and bones from the chicken and tear the meat into small chunky pieces. Stir into the sauce with the cooked leeks, mango chutney, lemon juice, coriander and seasoning to taste. Cool completely. If you have room in your freezer, spoon the mixture straight into a shallow 1.5 litre pie dish that measures about 6cm deep and wrap well. Alternatively, spoon the mixture into a lidded box. Freeze for up to 1 month.
- For the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a food processor, add the diced butter and lard and process together for a few seconds until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add 3 tablespoons of cold water and process briefly until the mixture just starts to stick together. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until smooth. Shape into a flat disc, wrap and freeze alongside the pie filling until needed.
- Thaw the pie filling and pastry overnight in the fridge. The next day, beat the egg yolk with a pinch of salt. Spoon the filling into a pie dish if necessary then push a pie funnel into the centre of the mixture if you have one.
- Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until it is 2.5cm larger than the top of the pie dish. Cut off a thin strip from around the edge, brush it with a little egg yolk and press it onto the rim of the dish. Brush with more egg, cut a small cross in the centre of the pastry and lay it over the dish, allowing a pie funnel to poke through, if using one. Press the edges together to seal, trim off the over-hanging pastry, then crimp the edges to finish. Decorate with leaves made from the trimmings if you like. Chill for at least 20 minutes before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Brush the top of the pie with the remaining egg yolk and bake for 45-60 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden and the filling is bubbling hot.
