BONE-DRY CHICKEN PIES

Looks promising, eh? 

I have been seeking the perfect recipe for those HK chicken pies that we buy at the local Chinese bakery.  They are unlike western pies because they’re small (tart-sized), they are savoury but also a bit sweet due to the addition of a bit of confectioners’ sugar in the tart dough, and the filling is primarily of chicken (thigh) chunks and ham.  These pies I suspect are made with lard because they taste so good.  I cannot bring myself to use lard (but interestingly I have no problem using pure butter)!

The end-product I am hoping for doesn’t have the requisite white sauce that western pies have; nor is there an abundance of veggies.  I followed the recipe exactly and was very disappointed, though not that surprised, that it was very dry.  The pies I purchase from Anna’s, our favourite chicken pie source, are on the dry side, but they are savoury and the filling kind of sticks together from I am guessing, a sort of cornstarch-thickened sauce made from the filling juices and possibly chicken stock. 
This recipe shows promise.  I made one test pie first and almost gagged from the bone-dry product.  For the rest of the batch, I then doctored the filling with a cornstarch-slurry thickened sauce made with chicken broth and stirred that into the meat filling.  It still needs something…like maybe some sauteed onions and more mushrooms.  I am inclined to add a sauce of some sort because I actually like a really moist filling.  I just worry that it’ll leak out of the little tarts as the dough is more like a shortcrust. 

So now I have about a dozen of these little pies to eat and though they’re not that bad, you really need a cup of hot tea or a tall glass of milk with them.  After I’ve figured out how to improve the recipe, I’ll post it.  I’ll be trying it with mushrooms, sauteed onions and a little white sauce first.   Hope it’ll work out!  I’ll keep you posted on my testing.