Delishuss Blog

This is  take on Donna Hay’s Red Curry Pork Pies from her Season’s Cookbook. I was looking for a nice recipe for a picnic in the lovely Roma Street Parklands in Brisbane. Donna’s recipe uses pork; I swapped it out for chicken thigh meat and I’ve added some veggies to bulk them up.

I told my partner that I was making pies, I think he was slightly disappointed when he realised that they weren’t steak and kidney. He was won over when he actually tasted them. They are banging with flavour and just that little bit different.

Utensils: You’ll need 2 round pastry cutters, 1 slightly smaller than the other for the top and the bottom of the pies. A metal pastry muffin tin. I had neither of these so I had to improvise. They were a bit rugged looking but the flavour certainly wasn’t compromised.

Makes 12 pies

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil

1 large brown onion, peeled and diced

1.2 kg chicken thigh fillets, chopped into bite sized chunks

2 tablespoons red curry paste

1 red pepper, finely diced

1 yellow pepper, finely diced

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup coconut cream

1 cup chicken stock

5 x 200g sheets store-bought shortcrust pastry, thawed

1 egg, lightly beaten

Oil spray for greasing the pastry tin.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.
2. Heat a large saucepan over a high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and onion and cook for 2 minutes. Add in the peppers and fry for a further 5 minutes until they are starting to become soft.
3. Remove the vegetables from the saucepan and set aside temporarily while you brown the meat.
4. Add the remaining oil to the pan, allow to heat and then add the meat and cook until brown. Stir in the curry paste and cook off for a minute or 2.
5. Re-add the veggies. Add the coconut milk, the coconut cream and the stock to the saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened. You don’t want it to be too runny or you’ll get a soggy bottom for your pies and no one likes a soggy bottom.
6. Set the sauce aside while you prepare your pastry.
7. Cut out 12 of the larger pastry rounds and 12 of the smaller pastry rounds. You can get artistic or get the kids involved and make some leaves for the top of the pies with the leftover pastry.
8. Grease the pastry tin. Line the holes with the larger pastry rounds.
9. Spoon in the filling. Don’t overfill or the sauce will ooze out while baking.
10. With a pastry brush, brush the egg around the edges of the pastry round.
11. Add on the top pastry round and brush with the remaining egg.
12. Place in the oven and bake for 30 mins or until golden brown on top.
13. These are good eaten hot or cold. I just had a thought, they’d be delishuss with a mango chutney.