Chicken & chick pea masala pasties

Chicken & chick pea masala pasties are always a hit with all my family, and since getting the hang of making my own puff pastry I'll happily whip up a batch at any given chance, so handing them out to friends as well as family during ramadhan was the perfect excuse to indulge in batch loafs

So here's the recipe if you'd like to give them a go.

To make a batch of 6 -8 pasties you will need
1 batch of my home made puff pastry or 2 sheets of ready roll pastry and 1 batch of my chicken & chickpea masala

• Start by ensuring your block of pastry is chilled & cold but not rock solid. Cut the block in half, put one half to a side or back in the fridge till later use.

• On a lightly floured surface, roll out the block out to a large square, to about an inch thick. Cut the large square into 4 equal peices. If you're using the ready rolled sheets just cut both sheets into 4 equal squares.

• Taking one of the squares, fold it in half lightly and open it up. Use the line through the middle as a guide for the middle of the pastie

• Take 2 -3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture and place in the middle of the square. Brush the bottom edge and sides with a little bit of egg wash, and fold the top half of the sqaure over the filling, ensuring all 3 edges meet as neatly as possible

• Pierce 2 sets of holes in the top of the pastie using a fork - this will help the steam escape during cooking. Seal all the edges by gently pressing them with a fork.

• Repeat the above process with the remaining squares and the remaining pastry dough. Place the pasties on greasproof lined baking trays, brush the tops of each pastie with egg wash  and bake in a fan assisted oven at 180c for
20 -25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown & serve 

*** if you have any filling remaining, and run out of pastry dough,  you can freeze the filling & save it for another time. Ensure that any filling you defrost is used uo completely as you cannot re freeze thawed meat***

Chicken & chickpea masala

This is the filling i use for my chicken pasties :

1 kilo boneless chicken- I used thigh meat as i find it doesn't dry out as much as breast
1 & 1/2 level tsp salt
2 large onions diced
2 tsp cumin seeds
3 green chillies finely chopped
1 tsp chilli flakes
Handful fresh coriander chopped
1 tin of chickpeas ( water drained )
2 handfuls garden peas
Tsp of garam masala
6 - 7 baby new potatoes cubed
1 tsp lemon juice

• Start by frying off the onions i a little oil till golden brown. Add in the salt and green chillies and cook on a medium heat till the chillies have softened

• Add in the chicken, and cook the chicken through completley, then add in the potatoes & chickpeas, cook the mixture until the the potatoes are soft but not mushed & the chick peas have browned a little

• Still on a medium heat, add in the cumin seeds, chilli flakes and garam masala. Check the seasoning of the salt & chillies and if required you can add in a little more chilli flakes or salt if needed.

• Once the mixture has cooled completley, add in the fresh coriander and lemon juice & mix well. The mixture is now ready to use to make my chicken pasties or alternatively as a filling for a pie.