You know it is chicken pie when the entrance of your home smells warm and yummy. Who haven’t tried chicken pie yet ? I am assuming everyone did, it is part of every house meal menu. But I have never thought about where chicken pie comes from? or more like where did all pies come from?

If you think about it, pies are pastries, and they are similar to bread with fillings inside so it is like a big sandwich. You can fill the pastry with almost anything, making your pie sweet or savory. Most pies are traditional and known internationally like: Chicken pie, Cheese pie, Meat pie, Apple pie, Pecan pie, Custard pie, Strawberry pie and Sugar pie. And there are signature pies that are made in specific bakeries or online recipes like: Chocolate & Pumpkin pie, Hot fudge brownie sundae pie, Sweet potato pie, Dark chocolate raspberry pie, Pizza Pie, Millionaire Pie, Tomato pie, Oreo pie and I can keep going on and on. The fun thing about pies is how creative you can get with it.

As for where it came from, the first pies appeared around 9500BC in the Egyptian Neolithic period or New Stone Age. It is when pottery and weaving became common. Early pies were in the form of flats, round or freeform crusty cakes made out of oats, wheat, rye or barley and contain honey. They developed into dessert. As for chicken pie, the oldest recipe was found somewhere around 2000BC written on a tablet in Sumer.

Before I get too excited and start experimenting with pies, I decided to learn my mothers famous delicious moist chicken pie and share it with you. Truly the day my mother makes chicken pie, is the day the house smells incredible, and the taste is even more incredible. It is an easy bake, and very light for lunch or dinner.

Try SUZIE|S recipe and share with us your experience. Enjoy your meal – in Arabic Sahtein

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SUZIE|S KITCHEN 

Makes enough for 6-8 people – Total time required: 1hr

Chicken Pie – فطيرة جاج

Ingredients

1 chicken breast without skin

4 cups of water

1 teaspoon of salt

1 rosemary leaf

1 onion (chopped)

1 teaspoon of finally shreded ginger

4 tablespoons of sunflower oil

1 cup of sliced Mushrooms

1 tablespoon of butter

2 tablespoon of flour

1 tablespoon of oregano

1/4 teaspoon of white pepper

1 cup of grated mozzarella cheese

1 box of square puff pastry sheets

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Recipe

1. In a medium sauce pan add the chicken breast along with 4 cups of water.
2. Add salt and rosemary and leave to boil for 45minutes make sure chicken is well cooked.
3. In another medium sized pan add chopped onions, sunflower oil and the ginger, over medium heat and stir.
4. Add the sliced mushrooms and keep stirring for 5 minutes.
5. Remove the chicken breast from the broth and leave aside to cool.
6. Once the chicken is cooled down, start shredding the chicken with your hands into smaller pieces.
7. Add the shredded chicken into the onion & mushroom pan.
8. Add butter and flower and stir.
9. Add the oregano and white pepper.
10. From the chicken broth, add 2 cups into the mushroom chicken mixture and mix very well.
11. Leave the mixture to boil for about 10 minutes.
12. Once your mixture is looking thick, remove from heat and put aside.
13. Add the cheese on top of the hot chicken mixture and mix well and leave to cool down.
14. Turn on your oven to 360 degrees.
15. In a medium cooking dish, spread the spoon of olive oil around the base before you line around 8 pastry squares (as much as your cooking dish fits)
16. Over the layer of pastry, add the chicken cheese mushroom mixture.(Make sure your mixture is cooled down before you add it)
17. Line another layer of pastry on top of the mixture filling.
18. Add your dish into the oven to bake your chicken pie for around 25-30 minutes.
19. Make sure the bottom and top of your pie are both golden.
20. Your pie is ready to serve.