Cooking with Music

Another one of my favorite surinamese recipes "pastei" Its a pastry dish filled with a chicken stuffing. Traditionally one large pie is filled but I like the more bitesize versions. You can use ready made pastry (shop bought) but thats a no-no for me ever since I have een creating the most scrumptious pastry right in my own kitchen.

 The secret like with many fine recipes lies in the pastry. The filling has to be equally amazing,.....but the pastry is where its at.

  WHAT YOU NEED

  For the pastry
*200 grams of margarine left out to soften
*300 grams of plain white flour
*2 teaspoons of baking powder
*1 dl of ice cold water
*A pinch of salt
*An egg (needed to brush of the pastries)

  For the filling
*2 small pieces of chicken fillet /or one large piece
*Half a madam jeanette pepper(for the kick)
*Small pot from HAK mixed peas and carrots (any other brand will be fine as well)
*3 tablesoons of chopped pickled gherkins
*tablespoon of capers
*large chopped onion
*tablespoon of tomato paste
* 3 tablespoons of Heinz kethcup (secret ingredient .. :-p )
*2 bailey leaves
*2 maggi cubes

*tablespoon of piccallili (any brand will do....original, sweet , spicy you decide)
*salt and pepper
*2 sticks of fresh celery

 STEP 1
Prepare the dough. take a large container and put in the 200 grams of margarine

If you use a pack of blueband you will have exactly 50 grams left which you can use to fry up your chicken later on ;-)

STEP 2
Take your electric blender and while slowly adding 1 dl of cold water blend the margarine and water till you get a smooth and creamy mix.

STEP 3
Add your pinch of salt and the baking powder then proceed to add the flour in bit by bit till your blender cant mix it no more.

Then add the remaining flour.was your hands and start kneading he mix. For a better grip put the dough on a clean smooth surface and kneed until it is a smooth doughy ball.

Return it in the bowl and over it with a clean towel and let it stand for an hour.

STEP 4 
Now to the filling. Ideally I would prefer making the filling the night before ,give a chance for the spices and flavors to deepen in taste.I will explain both versions.

 First take your chicken and chop it up in tinyyyy blocks. If your as lazy as I am put them in a blender to chop. Not to mincemeat structure just finely.

Then chop up your onions in small blocks or alternatively buy ready chopped onions from the supermarket(why make it hard when it can be soooo easy) chop your celery in the blender with half a madam jeanette pepper drain your peas and carrot mix. We almost there now...

STEP 5
Take a large frying pan and heat up some margarine or sunflower oil just a bit to coat the pan and when heated add your onions, fry until they are lightly caramelized.

example of caramelized onions

Then add your chicken and fry quickly for a min does not have to be thoroughly cooked then add your celery and pepper mix. Stir and fry and add your tomato paste , the maggi cubes and 2 table spooons of water.

Add the bailey leaves and leave to simmer on a low fire. for 5 minutes. Then switch it off and allow to cool.

chop up the carrots in smaller pieces so you get tiny carrot slices , make sure you dont turn it into mush as they are very soft. By the time you are done your meat mix is cooled down.

Now for the cheeky part squirt 2 or three squeezes of heinz ketchup in the mix add your piccalilli, chopped pickled gherkins some salt and pepper to taste and stir well.

Then add your carrot and pea mix and gently stir once or twice so it is all in.
You can decide to leave the mix in a tupperware container overnight. If you decide to use it immediately fish out the bailey leaves first and throw them away.


 STEP 6
 Heat up the oven to 180 degrees. Now take your dough and place on a flat clean surface coated with some flour. Get a baking tray ready and some baking paper on it so it doesnt stick.

 What I do is take a chunk of the dough and knead again then I use a roller to flatten it out and cut out rectangles with a knife.

I like smaller pies so not too big and not too small rectangles. Proceed to place a small mixture of the filling on ons side of the rectangle as in the picture.

Make sure u keep the sides free so you can seal them. use a fork to press the sides so the pies stay tightly closed.

 Repeat this until your baking tray is neatly full with pies. Then take an egg whisk it up a little and coat the pies with the mixture using a brush.
Place the pies in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes untill they turn golden brown. (if they are not golden brown leave for 10/15 minutes longer)

 OK people here is where the confession part comes out .....I have no picture of the outcome.
 They smelled and looked so good that I proceeded to eat them and forgot all about taking pictures.

 Look at tit from the bright side thats a good sign right???....Right?? When I make them again I will paste some pics ,.promise :-)

*Tip: to get both sides crispy and crunchy turn the pies after 30 minutes in the oven and set to 200 degrees for the last 10 minutes.

*Tip: sometimes the pies stick to my baking paper way to deal with this is by LIGHTLY coating the baking paper with some sunflower oli before placing the pies on them.

*Tip: remember you can freeze pastry for the next time, just defrost at room temperature, so take it out on time

Oooh yeah and last note ,..pies always tast even better the day after. I store them in a airtight container.


 And the songs below?,...well its from surinam and its fun :-) ....ENJOY!!!


 

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