Chicken Filo Parcels

Bought some filo pastry because I felt that I needed to try cooking more different foods. I was quite apprehensive at using this pastry because filo pastry is notoriously difficult and fiddly to handle. Yes, even the packet-bought ones - I don't even want to venture into making filo pastry from scratch. You have to work quick because the pastry can dry out very quickly leaving you with brittle pastry that is unworkable. Have to brush pastry with butter/oil/margarine/water - opinions differ on what to use, but it appears that most would say that only butter works and not substitute butter with anything else. Honestly, I don't see why you can't use olive oil (healthier than butter) or even water because they serve mostly the same purpose of moistening the pastry while you work with it. I used sesame oil because I love the fragrance of sesame oil, and I don't like butter. My dislike of buttery stuff is also the reason I chose to use filo pastry and not other pastries that can be quite buttery.

This is my first time using yoghurt or mustard in my cooking. My yoghurt maker (xmas pressie from my sis - thanks Hon) finally made really good yoghurt (previous ones were either too watery, too lumpy, too sour or not sour enough for my liking). We have some chardonnay mustard given to us, and I was curious to try mustard with chicken.

Thaw the pastry in the fridge for 24hrs. Not at room temperature because quick thawing can cause the pastry sheets to stick to each other. Make the chicken filling first before even thinking about opening the filo pastry packet. In fact, prepare everything first and turn on the oven before touching the pastry. I found the following websites contained helpful tips on handling filo pastry:

http://www.yasou.org/food/phyllo.htm
http://lldzines.com/phyllo/phyllo-print.htm
http://www.dilip.info/filo.html

Verdict? Rob loved it. I think he mostly liked the novelty of having something different. I liked the sauce - the yoghurt gave a nice creamy texture without being overly rich like how some creamy sauce can be. I'm not big on mustard, but the mustard went well with everything! You can definitely taste the mustard, but it wasn't overpowering. I'm quite pleased with how this turned out except that there was probably too much sauce, some of which leaked out while baking. Will I do this again? Probably for a party, but it seems too much effort for a meal at home for Rob and myself. Although I have to say that the chicken filling recipe (on its own) would be great with rice, pasta or couscous!

Chicken Filo Parcels

Ingredients

1 tabspn olive oil
1 Onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
400g chicken breast fillets, cut into small cubes and marinated with a splash of soy, ground pepper and ground ginger for a couple of hours
1/4 cup chicken stock or water
150g mushrooms, chopped
1 cup frozen mixed veges (beans, peas, corn and carrots will do)
1/2 cup natural yoghurt
1 tab mustard
1/4 cup colby cheese
2 tsp cornflour
Parsley
Approximately 6 sheets filo pastry (more sheets are better than less)
Sesame Oil (or olive oil) for brushing

Method

Heat oil in large pan, brown the onions on high heat, and add the garlic once the onions are browned.
Add chicken until stirfry until lightly browned and cooked. Add the frozen veges and mushrooms and use the stock/water to deglaze the pan (I'd forgotten to turn down the heat and the bottom of the pan was brown and needed serious deglazing). Stir until mushrooms and veges are cooked (1 minute).
Add yoghurt, mustard and cheese, stirring until combined. Mix the cornflour with a bit of water to form a paste, then add to the sauce and stir. Add parsley, salt and pepper to taste if required.

Preheat oven to 180degC. Cut pastry sheets in half crossways, layer 3 halves together, lightly brushing with sesame oil between each layer. Repeat with remaining pastry sheets.
Place 1/4 chicken mixture on one short end of pastry, fold in sides, roll to enclose filling. Repeat with remaining chicken mixture and pastry.
Place parcels on baking-paper-lined tray and bake in oven until pastry lightly browned (~20minutes).