Moroccan chicken pie recipe
Incredibly fragrant Moroccan chicken pie with traditional spices, soft apricots and almond flakes. Tastes just like a juicy Moroccan chicken tagine and is perfect for picnics. Made from scratch with hot water crust.
Equipment
- Muffin tin (12 cups)
- 12 cm (5-inch) round cookie cutter
- 8 cm (3-inch) round cookie cutter
Ingredients
Hot water pie crust
- 300 g plain flour (2 ⅓ cups)
- 40 g lard (⅕ cup)
- 40 g butter (3 tbsp)
- 160-170 ml water (¾ cup)
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 handful fresh herbs, finely chopped*
Chicken tagine with apricot filling
- 1 kg boneless chicken thighs (2 lbs)
- 1 large brown onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 juice of one lemon
- 250 ml water* (1 cup)
- 100 g soft dried apricots (aka Turkish apricots) (½ cup)
- 30 g almond flakes (¼ cup)
- ½ teaspoon salt & pepper
- 1 teaspoon ras el hanout*
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Prepare the hot water pie crust, full method and steps can be found here. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°F) with fan.
- To make the filling, start by heating some vegetable oil in a large wide-base pan. Once hot, add in the brown onion and cook until it softens and looks translucent.
- Add in the chicken thighs chopped into small dices, along with all the spices and the juice of one lemon. Cook for 7-8 minutes on medium heat, stirring often until the chicken is no longer pink.
- Add the water and mix well to combine, then cook for another 3-4 minutes to thicken the sauce.
- Reduce the heat to low, then add in the chopped dried apricots and cook for another 2 minutes. Once ready, take off the heat and mix in the almond flakes.
- Divide the hot water pie crust into two parts (⅔ and one smaller ⅓). Roll out the larger piece of pastry to 2-3mm in thickness (or the thickness of a coin). Use a large 12cm (5-inch) cookie cutter to cut out 12 circles for the base.
- Place each circle of pastry into the muffin cups, pressing them into shape with your fingers. Add in the filling, ensuring the pastry edges are left clean.
- Roll out the smaller piece of pastry and cut out 12 smaller circles, the same diameter as your muffin tin (around 8 cm / 3 inches). Cut out a small hole in the middle to let the steam escape during baking.
- Place the top pastry over the pies, pressing the edges to stick the pastry together and seal the juicy filling inside. Use the 8cm/3-inch cookie cutter to cut out any excess pastry.
- Brush the pies with some egg wash, then bake the mini chicken pies for 40-45 minutes or until deep golden brown on top. Once baked, let cool in the tin for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- I recommend using a kitchen scale in grams for more accuracy. The cups used for the conversion are standard US customary cups (1 cup flour = 136g). There are many different types of cups across the globe, which is why I strongly recommend using grams instead.
- Lard is produced from pure pig fat and is great for baking, roasting or frying. This product has no flavour, but it can have a fatty smell when melted – don’t worry, it won’t smell once baked. Please note that lard is not halal and cannot be used for Muslim diets. If you want to make this recipe halal, please replace the lard with butter.
- The amount of water required can depend very much on the type of flour you use and how much protein in contains. You may need to adjust by adding more or less water by 1-2 tsp. The dough needs to hold together, but not be overly sticky or too crumbly.
- Adding fresh herbs is entirely optional and can be adjusted to fit your recipe of personal preference. I like to add either coriander (cilantro in the US) or flat leaf parsley. You can also add thyme, oregano or basil.
- Ras el hanout is a Moroccan blend of super fragrant spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, turmeric, anise seed, cloves etc. It can be found in most Middle Eastern shops.
- If you're making just the chicken tagine with apricots as a main dish, you will need to cook the meat for an additional 10-15 minutes.
Nutrition
Calories: 328kcal
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