Curried Chicken & Lentil Pie

As it's British Pie Week I'd planned to make a chicken & leek pie with leftovers from the slow-cooked chicken we had on Sunday, but after seeing this pie on twitter (which is made using a recipe I remember seeing on A Mummy Too a while ago), I was inspired to use lentils in the pie too. If you don't have all the spices you can use a tbsp of curry powder, and to make it vegetarian just leave out the cooked chicken.

Curried Chicken & Lentil Pie - serves 4/5

1 tbsp Olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
250g sliced leeks
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin
100g dried green lentils 
400ml stock (chicken or vegetable)
100g cooked chicken breast, diced
100g cheddar cheese, grated
320g Jus Rol puff pastry sheet
1 egg, beaten

• Heat the oil in a pan
• Add the garlic & leeks and cook for 4 minutes
• Add the spices, lentils and stock
• Bring to the boil and simmer for 30-40 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed and the lentils are tender
• Remove from the heat and stir in the chicken and cheese
• Spoon the mixture onto the middle third of the pastry sheet
• Cut the sides of the pastry sheet into strips
• Fold the strips onto the filling, plaiting as you go
• brush the pastry with beaten egg
• Bake in a 180 C oven for 25 minutes, until golden brown