Chicken Patties – Bakery Inspired
If there was an Academy award for maintaining strong relationships with kith and kin, Kashmiris would give each other a tough competition and the rest of the world couldn’t even stand a chance to compete. Because we always go the extra mile to be there for our relatives through ups and downs, to the extent that we’re almost omnipresent in each others’ lives.
And the Mubarak affair
The most important step we take in upholding the ties of kinship is to pay a congratulatory visit to our relatives, and distant relatives on significant as well as trivial occasions. This is called mubarkas gasun. So if any of my second cousins to eighth cousins are celebrating something like a new baby, an engagement, etc., I’ll have to pay a visit. If it’s any of my first cousins, I’ll be pretty much there, a part of the celebration for at least seven days. Occasions such as middle pass (graduating middle school) and matric pass (graduating secondary school) may seem insignificant to a non-Kashmiri, but these equally call for mubarkas gasun. A hundred years back when hardly a handful of people would be fortunate enough to receive an education, passing High School was undeniably a big deal and called for a Mubarak genuinely. But we carried on this tradition to 2020. Cute, right? Little has changed here, despite so much having changed.
Bakery plays a vital role in this whole Mubarak affair. The host serves the guest tea or kehwa with a variety of cakes and biscuits. The guest prefers to bring along a box of goodies from a bakery for an edible gift rather than the unwanted knick knacks one may think of in rest of the world. The accumulated heap of baked goods never goes waste because the host utilizes it for serving other guests who come over mubarkas and this chain-affair stretches over a period of a few weeks following the occasion.
Back in the day, there were only a few phenomenal bakeries like Mughal Darbar, Ahdoos and Jan Bakers. Now this business has advanced greatly with dozens of new enthusiastic players in the game. From fancy pastries to rich tarts, they never fail to impress with their culinary art. Come wedding season or the time when Board Exam results are declared or when it’s time for Hajj pilgrims to return, locals flock to these bakery shops lured by the arrays of cakes and cookies on display. What better expression of love than a delightful, “international” treat straight from the warm oven, available locally.
Bakery Tchot
The type of bakery goods chosen for a specific Mubarak is directly proportional to the closeness of the relationship with the host. Yes there’s hierarchy. Starting with plain cake for distant relatives, followed by plum cake as the relation gets close and then chicken patties and pastries at the top, more so if it’s a highly esteemed soyen relation (son’s or daughter’s in-laws). As a Kashmiri, I have to be ready to welcome dozens of guests, each with a box of exotic bakery goods, on congratulatory visits to share even the smallest of joys in life such as surviving a medical procedure as simple as a tooth extraction. You are not a Kashmiri if you passed your Secondary school board exams and nobody got you a box of chicken patties from ‘Mughal Darbar‘ or the dozens of ‘New’ Mughal Darbars.
Things like this set us apart in this digitally connected, socially disconnected world. Perhaps we have established these unexceptional reciprocal relationships of love and compassion to mend our blemished emotions, owing to the years of traumatizing conflict.
Home-made chicken patties
On this note, I’m sharing the recipe for chicken patties, which can potentially satisfy those yearnings for the bakery-bought chicken patties back in Kashmir. Flaky puff pastry is filled with a chicken filling, basically cooked in white sauce (close to the French sauce, Béchamel).
When we have a small reason to celebrate, I like to whip up these patties for afternoon tea. Because in a country far from Kashmir, we can’t expect anyone to show up with a box of chicken patties when our toddler gets admission in a pre-school!
Chicken patties- Kashmiri bakery inspired
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp crushed garlic
- 1 tbsp flour
- ½ cup milk
- 250 gm chicken, boiled and deboned
- ½ tbsp rolled oats
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp fennel seed powder
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- ¼ tsp garam masala powder
- 1½ tbsp fried onion paste
- ½ cup chicken stock
Puffs
- 1 ready rolled puff pastry sheet (thawed)
- 1 egg
Instructions
- To make sauce for the filling, heat oil in a pan. Add crushed garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add in the flour and stir until it turns slightly brown. Add the milk and stir well, making sure no lumps are formed. Simmer for 5-6 minutes, stirring in between.
- Shred the boiled chicken with the help of a fork and add it to the sauce. Mix well. Add rolled oats, salt, fennel seed powder, black pepper, white pepper, garam masala powder and fried onion paste. Add the chicken stock. Cook for another 10 minutes, or until the desired consistency is reached, stirring occasionally.
- Roll out the puff pastry sheet. For triangular patties (easier to make), divide it into six equal squares and brush with egg wash. Spread the filling on one half of each square, divided diagonally.
- Fold the other half of each square. Brush with egg wash. Press the edges with a fork and make cuts on the face with a knife.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C for 20-25 minutes, or as stated on the puff pastry box.
Notes
- Classically, the chicken patties are circular in shape. With ready-rolled puff pastry sheets, triangular shape is easier to put together.
- Home-made puff pastry can be time consuming, but worth a shot.
- Whole wheat flour (atta) can be used in place of all-purpose flour for the white sauce.
- Top the filling with shredded cheese for cheesy chicken puffs.
- These patties can be frozen to stay longer.
- The chicken filling can be used for sandwiches as well.