I was feeling a bit under the weather this weekend and desperately craving some chicken pot pie. Whenever I was sick growing up, my dad would pick one up on his way home from work and I swear it had magical healing properties. Instead of making one big pot pie for myself, I decided to make mini ones to share with my boyfriend. After all, he deserves a little something special for taking such good care of my body and soul. Maybe it’s because I’m a mini human, but there’s just something about bite sized versions of food that make smile. From a practical perspective, bite sized foods are easy to share with friends, a hit at parties, and quite frankly the most efficient way to clear your plate. I may not be able to eat an entire pizza upon first glance, but cut that baby up into tiny slices, and I’ll gobble them all up one by one. From a personal perspective, small foods take me back to my childhood tea parties of stuffed animal company and make me think about the things I’ll make for a mini-me someday. Anyway, I added a little curry and coconut milk into an otherwise classic chicken pot pie filling and stuffed them into some canned biscuits and voila – bite sized comfort in a muffin tin.
Mini Curry Chicken Pot Pies (Yields 12)
• 1 can extra large biscuits
• 3 chicken breasts, diced into 1/4 inch cubes
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 cayenne peppers, chopped
• 4 lemongrass stalks, chopped into 2 inch pieces
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 cup mixed peas and carrots, frozen or canned
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 3 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp chicken stock
• 1 tbsp yellow curry
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
1. In a skillet, saute garlic, lemongrass, onions and cayenne peppers in sesame oil. Stir fry for 5 minutes until onions become translucent.
2. Add in chicken broth, diced chicken, peas and carrots, curry, sugar, salt and black peppers. Continue stirring until chicken is cooked, about 6-8 minutes.
3. Reduce heat and remove lemongrass stalks from pan. Add in coconut milk and stir on low heat until evenly mixed. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Use a rolling pin or glass to flatten canned biscuits into a 5 inch wide circle.
5. Press flattened biscuits into a nonstick muffin pan, leaving about a 1/2 inch rim outside the edge of the muffin pan.
6. Spoon 1/4 cup of curry chicken mixture into biscuit cups.
7. Pull the edge of the biscuits from four sides and pinch a knot in the middle. Bake for 20 minutes.
