Filipino Chicken Pastel

This is a recipe from the Philippines. A 'pastel' is a creamy dish, usually baked in an earthenware dish with a pastry crust. This an excellent chicken pie and the evaporated milk provides a delicious creamy taste. The frankfurters are not traditional, but are easy to get rather than the ones usually used in the Philippines.

Ingredients

For 1	Continued...
1 chicken breast	2 frankfurter sausages
1 tbspn dark soy sauce	50 gm cheese
1 tspn lemon juice	3 tbspn evaporated milk
25 gm margarine	¼ tspn salt (1)
50 gm onion (prepared weight)	Pastry crust
¼ green pepper (30 gm)	100 gm plain flour
50 gm mushrooms	¼ tspn salt (2)
200 ml chicken stock	40 ml vegetable oil
50 gm potato (prepared weight)	20 ml cold water
25 gm carrot (prepared weight)	1 egg
50 gm frozen peas

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 230° C.
Cut the chicken into about 1 inch cubes.
In a small bowl, mix the chicken with the soy sauce and lemon juice and marinate for at least 20 min.
In a wok or frying pan, heat the butter and fry the chicken cubes (without the marinade), stirring, for 3 min, then drain on kitchen paper and set aside.
Very finely chop the onion.
Deseed the green pepper and chop into about 1 cm squares.
Chop the mushrooms into pieces about the same size as the chicken.
Peel the potato and cut into approx 1 cm cubes.
Peel the carrot and cut into approx 1 cm cubes.
Chop the frankfurters into approx 2 cm pieces.
Grate the cheese.
In a small bowl, beat the egg.

Cooking

Add a little oil if necessary and fry the onion, green pepper and mushrooms, stirring regularly, for 2 min.
Add the chicken stock and simmer for 15 min.
Add the potatoes, carrots, peas, chicken, frankfurters, cheese and evaporated milk, mix well and cook, stirring regularly, for 10 min.
Add the salt (1).
Spoon the mixture into an oven proof oven dish. (see notes)
Sieve the flour and salt (2) into a suitably sized bowl.
Stir in the oil and water and mix into a dough, adding a little more water to allow the dough to be 'brought together'.
Roll the pastry on a floured surface so it will cover the oven dish.
Cover the oven dish with the pastry and press down the edges, marking the edge of the pastry with a fork.
Remove the excess pastry and optionally cut some fancy shapes to embellish the pie crust.
Brush the pie crust with the beaten egg and, optionally, add the fancy embellishments brushing these with egg.
Cut a few holes in the pastry to allow the steam to escape during baking.
Bake in the oven for 15 min.

Notes

A 9 inch enamel pie dish is ideal for this as it will stand the high oven temperature. This will hold 500 ml.

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