Chicken Pie

I wake up from a short nap ... & here I have my son waiting with a request for Chicken Pie. While I made a mental note of ingredients available to execute his request..........he rolls out what exactly what should go into the Pie. Hmmm......on that nice thought we made this.

I didn't make this pie from the scratch....I have used a lot of shortcuts like ready made stuff ......sometimes they are so handy to  put a meal together. So here we go step by step......
Finely chop one large onion ,one large tomato, 3 pods of garlic. Heat oil in a pad ...add a pinch each of cumin and fennel...as they flutter - add garlic, saute until they turn golden..add onions and when they turn brown add tomatoes  and finely chopped mushrooms and fry well..add salt, turmeric, red chilly powder, coriander powder and a pinch of garam masala powder. Please adjust spices according to taste...Add about 2 table spoons of water and make sure the sauce blends well.....As this sauce boils add frozen peas..mix well and turn off heat...garnish with chopped coriander leaves.That makes the base sauce ready. remember this is a great sauce to hide veggies like beans, cauliflowers, carrots etc....make sure they are  finely chopped  to disguise them :)

As decided by my lil chef, he wanted chicken nuggets in the pie and not the shredded chicken breasts i had in mind. The best chicken nuggets that I have liked by far is Al Islami breaded chicken nuggets. I love them as they can easily be pan fried !!  I pan fried them lightly on each side..and set them aside on a paper towel.

Now for the pie crust.........I managed to use a frozen puff pastry dough. Rolled it out and placed on a pie dish, trim at the edge. Poke it with a fork at the base.

Place the onion mushroom peas sauce at the base of the pie.

Slice the nuggets evenly and place them on the sauce..

I wanted to top this with white sauce/bechamel..........but used a sundried tomato alfredo sauce instead. I didn't make it - I have used the Classico brand here.. and then add the second layer of sliced nuggets..

Top this with shredded mozzarella cheese.......sprinkle dried oregano on it...... I just love the aroma of this herb on cheese.

Preheat the oven at this stage. Use the temperatures that best suits your baking needs. Cut ribbon like strips of dough and place them in such a way that it makes a basket weave.With whatever dough that remains cut tiny even strips and make them into a braid. Am not sure of the source..but I remember seeing this pattern on Pinterest. Beat an egg for the egg wash......brush the egg on the sides and seal the edges with the braided dough.

Now egg wash all over the strips ..

Set it to bake in the oven...for about 30 minutes or as appropriate to the gadget.Once the cheese has melted and the dough has puffed..turn on the grill and let the heat brown the top a little. Stay right there and rotate the pie dish to brown evenly...

 The melted cheese , sauce and the veggies with the sliced chicken nuggets........the pan fried nuggets stay tender as we do not over cook it in the pan.............Serve hot...........

Despite the store bought stuff in hand ......it took me close to 2 hours to put it all together.......it was worth the effort...my boy sure knows to push me to the limits :)) I give him all the credit for adding the Al Islami chiken nuggets ...........