I cooked a roast chicken a couple of days ago and honestly, nothing goes to waste on that bird. I usually get 3 hearty meals out of one average size chicken by using the leftover meat in other dishes or the bones to make a broth for an Asian inspired dish. (I usually freeze all the leftover bones until I use it)
Maize or corn meal is something most South Africans grow up with. We call it “mieliepap or putu pap” and probably the staple diet for the majority of people in Africa. There are literally thousands of recipes to use this humble ingredient, but in this recipe we are using it as a topping for a pie. No need for all that hard work of making a pastry casing! You can make this pie from scratch and into the oven within 30 minutes. I served this dish with a green salad on the side.
You’ll need
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 leeks, washed and thinly sliced
- 250g mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 2 celery sticks, thinly sliced
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- ¼ cup flour
- ½ cup white wine (Optional)
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 cups shredded leftover chicken or chicken breasts
- Salt & pepper
- -----------
- For the crust:
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tbsp melted butter (slightly cooled)
- ¾ cup flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup White Maize (Corn) Meal
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Grease a large baking dish.
- In a large sauce pan, heat olive oil and butter together.
- Add onion, mushrooms, leeks, celery, carrots and garlic.
- Cook until tender about 5 - 10 minutes. Add in flour until blended.
- Deglaze your pan with the wine and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Stir in 2 cups of heated chicken stock, whisking well.
- Cook mixture over medium heat until thickened and bubbly, about 4 minutes.
- Stir in the shredded chicken and season with salt & pepper.
- Pour the mixture into the baking dish and set aside.
- In a bowl, stir maize meal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
- Mix milk, egg and melted butter until well combined in a separate bowl.
- Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until mixed well
- Spoon the batter evenly over the chicken pie filling.
- Bake for about 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.