Vinegar Salt Creamy Chicken and Pea Pot Pies

Difficulty: Easy | Prep: 15 min | Cook: 30 min | Total: 45 min | Serves: 4 | Dietary: Contains gluten and dairy

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cook With the Kids. Nothing shuts a cold August night down faster than a pie with its own lid. The filling is creamy but not heavy, and Chooki's Vinegar Chicken Salt cuts through the sauce so it tastes like chicken and peas instead of just cream. Kids can do the pastry lids and the egg wash while you handle the pan.

Step 1: Brown the Chicken

Heat the oven to 200C. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, then add the chicken and onion. Cook for 6 to 7 minutes until the chicken has colour on it and the onion has gone soft. You want a bit of golden stuff stuck to the bottom of the pan. That is the flavour.

Step 2: Make the Filling

Scatter the flour over the top and stir it through for a minute so it stops tasting raw. Pour the milk in slowly, a splash at a time, stirring as you go until the sauce thickens to the consistency of pouring custard. Take it off the heat, stir through the peas and 2 tablespoons of Chooki's Vinegar Chicken Salt, then divide it between four 1-cup ramekins.

Step 3: Lid and Bake

Cut a circle of puff pastry slightly wider than each ramekin and press the edges down onto the rim so it seals. Poke a small hole in the middle of each one to let the steam out, brush the tops with beaten egg, and bake for 22 to 25 minutes until the pastry is deep golden and puffed right up.

Tip: Let them sit for five minutes before you serve them. The filling comes out of the oven hot enough to take the roof off a kid's mouth, and the sauce sets slightly as it cools so it does not run everywhere when the lid cracks.