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Pie Gai

My Mom made a dish called Turkey a la King, I always liked it. She made it with the Xmas leftovers and was always an easy and cheap meal. My family and I like to go to a Novotel in Rayong.  One of my wife's favourite dishes is vol-au-vent, which I discovered is French for -a-la-king (no it isn't really).  The price for two pastry puffs and a cupful of sauce was about 250 baht. We can feed the family for the about the same price at home. My kids have converted the name to 'pie gai' or chicken pie.

You will need:

equal number cans of creme of chicken and cream of mushroom soup
milk or soup stock or both about 2/3s of a can for every can of soup
half the number cans of mushrooms
puff pastry pie shells
chicken meat about 300 grams for every 2 cans of soup
optional - olive oil, chopped garlic and black pepper.

As we generally rarely have left over chicked I get chicken breast and cook them whole in the soup stock. Wash the chicked and add it to the simmering stock.  Takes about 30 minutes to cook.  Bring it to a light boil at a maximum or you get card board chicken. Remember to boil the stock hard after the chicken is cooked.  Cut up the chicken to spoon size pieces.  You can cut the mushrooms if they are whole.

In a large stock pot pour in the cream soups. I tend to flavour the pot first with a little olive oil and garlic.  Stir in enough milk or soup stock (or both) to make it into a creamy sauce. Add the chicken and mushrooms. Bring it to a boil and stir constantly. I let it cook for about 1/2 hour, let it sit for a couple of hours before I reheat to serve. I crank in a few good twists of fresh black pepper. There is enough salt in the broth and mushrooms for everyone.

To serve first heat the pie shells (in Bangkok you can get them any day at the Danish Bakery near Villa on soi 33 or at any 9th Sister Bakery but  you have to order in advance) in an oven until they start to sweat oil onto the pan.  Place the sauce in a big soup bowl and serve with the heated shells. My mother-in-law prefers to add sweet peas to the sauce.