Butter Chicken Pot Pie with Naan Crust

With the cooling temps, it’s never a bad idea to dig into a Chicken Pot Pie!!! What if this All-American classic has a fusion Indian take on it 🙂 Here, I am sharing my recipe of Butter Chicken Pot pie with Naan Crust (substituting the traditional Pie crust).

The recipe looks to be a bit intimidating, but it’s actually simple to pull off and trust me, it’s worth it!

For the Butter Chicken:

Gravy/ Sauce:

• 1 medium-sized red onions, sliced
• 4 oz tomato paste
• 15 whole cashew nuts
• 2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste
• 4 nos Thai green chillies, remove the stalks
• 10 nos whole dried red chillies
• 5-8 cloves
• 5-8 cardamom (grains are removed)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 3 tablespoons ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ (Light) or regular butter
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons half and half cream
• 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves (found in Indian grocery stores)
• Salt to taste

Chicken Marinade:

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 1/2 tablespoon plain yogurt
• Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons canola oil (or any cooking oil) for frying

For the Naan Top:

• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more to dust
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ (Light) or regular butter, melted, to top
• Few Cilantro leaves, to top
• Few sesame seeds, to top

Directions:

Preparing the Naan Dough:

1. Start by preparing the Naan dough. In a small bowl, combine dry yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar and 3/4 cup warm water. Let it sit for 10 mins, or until foamy.
2. Combine the flour, salt, remaining 1 teaspoon sugar, baking powder in a large bowl (I used food processor with the kneading blade to combine).
3. When the yeast is ready, add it to the flour mix along with yogurt and olive oil. Mix and knead the flour until a soft dough is formed. If using a food processor, mix until a dough ball is formed. Cover and let it rise in a warm area for 2 hours.

Preparing Butter Chicken:

1. Next, mix the chicken pieces with yogurt, flour, garam masala and salt. Let it marinate for 1-2 hours.
2. In the meantime, we will begin with the Butter chicken gravy. In a medium-sized non stick pot, melt 2 tablespoons butter.
3. Once heated, add onions and stir fry until they turn pink. Add cashews, ginger garlic paste, cardamom seeds, cloves, cinnamon powder and salt and cook until fragrant.
4. Then add tomato paste and cook for a minute. Now add Thai green chillies and dried red chillies. Cook for another minute. Remove the pot from heat and let it cool.
5. Add the cooled mix and water into a blender/ food processor to get a thick gravy consistency.
6. In a pot, heat the remaining tablespoon butter. Add bay leaves and cook until fragrant. Now stir in the gravy from the blender/ food processor. Let in cook for 2 minutes while adding honey. Finally add half and half cream and crushed dried fenugreek leaves and cook for a minute. The butter chicken gravy is ready.
7. Now heat oil in a medium-sized non stick pan and add the marinated chicken pieces to it.
8. Fry until chicken is tender and cooked.
9. Remove excess oil after frying from the pan and in the same pan add the butter chicken gravy and mix well. The filling of the pie is ready.

Preparing the Pot pie:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray 6 oven safe Ramekins or one casserole dish with cooking spray.
2. Fill the Ramekins or the casserole dish with the Butter Chicken. Set aside.
3. On a lightly dusted surface, turn out the dough. Divide into 6 equal pieces and gently stretch to cover the tops of the Ramekins. If using a casserole dish then take sufficient dough and gently stretch to cover. Gently press on sides of Ramekins/ casserole dish to adhere.
4. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.
5. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle cilantro and sesame seeds, if desired. Serve warm.