Bánh Patê Sô (Pate Chaud)

Hot puff pastry pies with chicken, peas and mushrooms

You can put anything in these pies. My mother has been making them since she discovered ready made puff pastry from the supermarket! Who has time to make them from scratch these days when they are just as good! I always thought they were Vietnamese until a recent after thought made me realise that they are actually French! The Vietnamese enjoy pastry snacks like these all the time.

Bakeries in Saigon are busting with people queuing on their Hondas every day and night for hot savoury cakes! Who can resist!

 
Ingredients – Makes 6
1 pack ready made puff pastry
100g chicken breast
3 cloves garlic
2 brown chestnut mushrooms
50g garden peas 1 tsp pork seasoning
1 tsp sugar
1⁄2 tsp black pepper
2 tbs butter
1 tbs tapioca starch
5 tbs water
1 egg yolk


Method
Finely dice the garlic. Cut the mushrooms into small chunks. Slice the chicken breast into small 1cm cubes or quickly pulse in a blender. Drizzle cooking oil into a hot pan, add the butter, garlic, chicken, mushrooms, peas and season with sugar, pepper and pork seasoning. Fry until golden.

In a separate bowl, mix the tapioca starch and water together then pour the mixture into the pan with the rest of the ingredients. This thickens and combines everything together. Cook for a further minute and leave to rest.

Preheat the oven to 180oC. When the mixture has cooled down. Roll out a sheet of puff pastry. Use a 6cm round cutter or a thin lip cup and cut out 12 circles from the pastry. Fill each sheet with a generous table spoonful of filling and close it up by placing another sheet on top. Place them on a greased baking tray. Use a fork to press around the edges and brush the pastry with the egg yolk which will give them a nice golden colour. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden and serve immediately.