CREAMY CHICKEN PUFFS/PASTIES

My 500th post and it had to be something special! I toyed at ideas and recipes for two days and pondered over what to post on this very special day for me! I dont think i would ever reach to this stage or take my blog and my facebook cooking page to this level. Sweet or salty? Indian, Chinese or Spanish??? I was in a dilemma….and in the end decided to make something that everyone could modify to their taste! Its a little tough to please soo many followers from soo many different countries believe me 🙂
I live in Valencia which is a city in spain and i always feel grateful because this country has given me so much. Its so nice to come across people who are curious about the life here , its friendly people and the culture.
Todays recipe is my gratitude to Spain. Creamy cheese puffs/pastys/empanadillas. If you have been to Spain you will see these half moon pies on sale in all of the bakeries. These are “empanadillas” stuffed with different stuffings like tuna and capsicum, spinach, onion and bacon etc etc just to name a few typical ones. Today i will teach you a simple way to make them and write down simple fillings which you can stuff them with.
FOR THE CREAMY CHICKEN FILLING:
250 grams of minced chicken breast
1 onion chopped fine
1/4 cup of red capsicum (bell pepper) chopped fine
1 clove of garlic, minced
salt and black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of oregano and mixed herbs of your choice
1 tablespoon of white or whole wheat flour
1/4 cup of milk , skimmed or half and half or whole or even soya milk
2 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon of spanish olive oil
METHOD:
Heat the oil in a non stick frying pan and add the onion with the garlic and sautee till the onions change colour. Add the capsicum and sautee till they soften a bit. Add the salt and pepper and then the minced chicken and cook till the chicken releases its moisture and starts to change color. Add the herbs and the flour and cook for half a minute. Add the milk and the ketchup and let it all cook till the whole mixture has boiled and is thick. Leave to cool. (Filling must be absolutely cool… whichever filling you choose to use)
FOR THE PASTRY:
100 ml of water
100 ml of extra virgin olive oil or cooking oil
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of eno fruit salt
Around 250-300 grams of all purpose white flour
Mix the water and oil in a bowl. Add the salt and the fruit salt and immediately start adding the white flour by tablespoonsfuls. Use as much needed as to make a dough. Knead the dough for about five minutes till its soft and pliable. Keep for about fifteen minutes. Make small balls out of the dough and roll out each ball till quite thin. Put a spoonful of the filling on one side and fold over to make a semi-circle or half moon. Press the edges with a fork and place on a baking tray. Make up the rest of the puffs like this and place all on the tray. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees till golden brown.
NITU DIDI TIP:
You can use any filling for this: boiled spinach with sauteed mushrooms in garlic, soya minced meat (vet kheema), fish in cream sauce, etc etc. This is a good way to use up left overs too. Just make sure the filling is dry.