This curry chicken pie is full of flavor and topped with a crisp and golden flaky gluten-free crust! Packed with tender chicken and vegetables in a delicious curry sauce, it's comfort food taken up a notch!
Cut butter into small chunks and place in the freezer for 5 minutes.
In a mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, tapioca starch, baking powder, and salt and mix with a whisk.
Add the chilled butter to the flour mixture and use a pastry blender, fork, or knives to cut the butter into the flour until the butter is in very small pieces.
Add 1 tablespoon of iced water to the flour butter mixture and blend with a fork. If the mixture is still too dry, add ½ tablespoon of iced water at a time, mixing after each addition. You should not need to add more than 2 tablespoons. Dough should just come together and not be wet.
Use your hands to form the dough into a ball and place on a sheet of plastic wrap. Flatten into a disc and wrap with the plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
If Cooking Chicken For This Dish:
In a skillet over medium heat, add 1-2 tablespoons neutral flavored oil and add the boneless, skinless chicken thighs to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes.
Flip chicken pieces and cook another 5 minutes.
Remove chicken from pan and chop into bite-sized chunks or shred. Set aside.
Filling:
Combine the chicken broth, coconut milk, tamari (soy sauce), fish sauce, and black pepper in a bowl or measuring cup and whisk well. Set aside.
Add 1 tablespoon oil to the same pan and add the diced onions, diced carrots, and ½ teaspoon salt. Sweat the onions and carrots for about 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the minced garlic to the onion and carrots and cook 1 minute.
Add the broccoli to the pan.
Add the curry powder and tapioca starch to the pan and mix into the onions, carrots, broccoli, and garlic.
Stir the reserved sauce mixture and add to the pan, scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pan with your spatula.
Add cooked chicken to the pan and combine well. Heat through.
Transfer filling to a deep-dish pie plate or similar sized baking dish. Let cool 30-45 minutes.
Constructing the Chicken Pie:
Preheat oven 350F/180C.
Tear a sheet of parchment paper that is slightly larger than your baking dish. Dust with tapioca starch.
Remove pie crust from fridge, remove plastic wrap, and place on parchment paper. Dust with tapioca starch.
Dust rolling pin well with tapioca starch and roll crust out to slightly bigger than your baking dish, re-dusting the rolling pin as necessary to prevent sticking. Repair any tears in the crust by pinching/pressing together with your fingers.
Use the parchment paper to help lay the crust over the filling in the baking dish. Starting from one side, gently pull the parchment paper away from the crust.
Tuck any crust overhang into the edge of the baking dish. (See Recipe Notes below if your crust tears or breaks.)
Cut slits into the crust.
Brush entire crust with egg wash.
Bake for 45 minutes until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling.
Let cool 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
5 tablespoons cold butter = 75g
Use about 1 ½ lbs (680g) of cooked chicken meat if you do not want to cook chicken especially for this dish.
Adjust the ratio of coconut milk to chicken broth depending on taste.
Other vegetable substitutions/options are cauliflower, peas, green beans, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, zucchini, etc.
If using potatoes, I would par-cook by boiling them for a few minutes to ensure they will be completely cooked after baking.
Crust:
When rolling out the crust, act quickly and handle as little as possible to minimize it warming up too much and falling apart. The crust dough is not as strong as those made with regular flour.
If your crust tears or rips, simply patch it back together by pressing the pieces together gently with your fingers. This can also be done if the crust is already been laid over the baking dish.
Alternatively, you can lay random cut pieces of dough over the filling, not worrying about making a perfect crust top.
Do not worry about the crust being perfect when laying it on the dish...it will look amazing after it is baked!
Be sure to brush egg wash on the crust to achieve the golden color during baking.
If you are not gluten-free, you can use a regular wheat pie crust or purchased pie crust dough to use on top of your filling.
Make individual chicken pies using single portion sized oven-safe dishes. The number of servings depends on the size of your dishes. Top them each with the crust dough.
The crust dough and filling can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until you are ready to put the dish together.
You can also make the entire dish and keep it in the refrigerator until ready to bake. If baking straight from the refrigerator, bake for 50 minutes.
Brush with egg wash right before baking if making ahead.