Oscar’s spin on ‘Meyhem Lauren’s Chicken Patty Potpie’

First off, this is not my recipe. As you may have concluded from the title, this is Meyhem Lauren’s recipe, Meyhem Lauren being a member of the Smart Crew, a crew of graffiti artists from New York. In Collaboration with rapper Action Bronson (real  name Ariyan Arslani), Meyhem allowed Bronson to publish this recipe where I found it; in Bronson’s cookbook titled ‘F*ck that’s delicious’ (Bronson, 2017). I have made this recipe numerous times and it is my favourite recipe from the book so far. Below you can see Action Bronson in the foreground and Meyhem Lauren directly behind, both are people that inspire me. 

 

So here’s how it goes;

First you’ll need most of the following ingredients and I say ‘most’ because you may want to skip out on chillies and jalapenos or maybe onion if one of those isn’t your thing:

• About 800 grams of boneless chicken thighs
• 6 cloves of garlic (smashed)
• Curry powder
• Vegeta
• Paprika
• Olive oil
• 4 small carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 ribs of celery diced
• 1 diced red onion
• 2 8-ounce boxes cremini mushrooms (stemmed and quartered)
• 2 long red chillies (sliced)
• 2 cans of light coconut milk
• 1 can of pickled jalapenos
• 3 tablespoons of lemon zest
• 1 thumb-sized knob of ginger (smashed)
• 1 small bunch of basil, tough stems removed
• 3 small potatoes, any kind should do (diced)
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• 4 large sheets of puff pastry or piecrusts
• a 50 gram slice of butter
• Flaky Sea Salt
• 1 egg (beaten)

Now here’s the simple method for making this wondrous pie (this recipe makes two):

1. Preheat the oven to 220 Celsius (non fan-forced).
2. Combine the chicken and garlic in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with curry powder, Vegeta, paprika and a little olive oil. Mix it around and then let it sit for about 15 to 20 minutes to marinate slightly. Now brown it on all sides ideally in a dutch oven, I just used a pan and fried it up nicely.
3. Place the chicken on a plate and then cook your vegetables (carrots, celery, mushroom, onions and chillie) in the same pot to ensure they’re getting some of the same coating from the chicken. Even go so far as to scrape any brown bits from the pan in with the vegetables for maximum flavour.
4. Add the chicken back to the pot when the vegetables have softened, pour in the coconut milk and the pickled jalapenos, then bring everything to a simmer.
5. Add the lemon zest, ginger, basil, potatoes and don’t forget to crush the tomatoes with your bare hands straight into the pot. Stir in the sugar and then taste the mixture to see if it needs more sugar, salt etc.
6. Simmer for roughly 20 minutes until the potatoes are cooked through and are smasheable. Shred the chicken lightly with a wooden spoon also. Let it all cool down for about 10 minutes after simmering.
7. While the mixture is simmering and then cooling, Use butter to grease two cake pans then sprinkle some sea salt on the pans. Press in a single slice of pastry into each then let rest in the fridge for 5 minutes.
8. Now that the mixture in the pan has cooled, place the vegetables and chicken onto the pastry in the cake pans with a slotted so spoon so that not too much liquid is placed in the pies.
9. Lay the other sheets of pastry on top and crimp the edges with a fork like the

   

   example on the right, also making sure to jab some holes with a knife on the top of the pie.

10. Bake until the filling is bubbling through the tops of the pies before basting the tops of the pies with butter and the beaten egg. Allow the pies to bake until golden brown and crispy on the edges before serving immediately with hot sauce… if you like hot sauce.

This is a fantastic meal for the family because it contains serves of vegetables for the kids and is also overwhelmingly delicious. It’s also great if you’re big on eating like myself so that you can devote one pie to yourself and

one to the family.

Reference:

Bronson and Wharton, A and R 2017, F*ck that’s delicious – An annotated guide to eating well, ABRAMS, NY.