Staying on my “Hand Pie” kick, here is a recipe for making a whole lot and freezing them. It’s a “from scratch” recipe — meaning first make your curry, then make your hand pies, but you can easily just make hand pies from any leftover curry that you might have. Just the other day, I purposefully saved some butter chicken to make some additional hand pies. Easy and always great to have in the freezer for a quick lunch.
Ingredients
For the filling
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons curry powder (I used mild; you could use medium too)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons cornstarch
Kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
for the hand pies
1 box frozen puff pastry, both sheets, thawed according to the package
1 large egg + 1 teaspoon milk, for the egg wash
Directions
Heat butter in a large shallow braising pot or large skillet over medium. Cook onion stirring often, until very soft, 8–10 minutes. Sprinkle with curry powder and 2 tablespoons of flour; cook, stirring to coat, just until curry powder darkens, about 1 minute. Whisk broth, soy sauce, and cornstarch in a small bowl until smooth. Add broth mixture to pot and bring to a simmer, stirring often. Cook, still stirring frequently, until mixture is very thick. Taste and season with salt, if needed. Add chicken and stir to evenly distribute. The mixture will look so thick at this point that it will seem wrong, but not to worry, the chicken will release liquid as it cooks. Let simmer for 15 minutes or so, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and cool to at least room temperature. You can also do this the day before.
Heat the oven to 400F.
On a well-floured surface, unfold one piece of puff pastry sheet. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the sheet into a 10-inch-wide by 12-inch-long rectangle. Using a sharp knife, cut lengthwise through the long-side, then into 3 pieces, so each sheet will produce 6 rectangles. Repeat with the remaining piece of puff pastry and set aside; you will have 12 rectangles in all, which will make 6 pasties. Set the bottom pastry rectangles on the parchment-lined sheet pan. Distribute the chicken filling evenly into a thick, even layer onto the bottom half of each pastry rectangle, leaving a 1/2-inch border on all sides. Brush the borders lightly with the egg wash.
Using the rolling pin, roll the remaining rectangles so they are slightly larger in size than the bottom pastry rectangles. Place each piece on top of the filling and cheese, lining up the edges (avoid stretching the dough if possible). Crimp the borders of each pastry by pressing with a lightly floured fork to seal. Brush the top of each pasty with egg wash and cut a slit or two in the top pastry to vent.
Bake the pasties at 400F, rotating the pan halfway through, until the pasties are deep golden brown in color, 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes and serve hot from the oven.
