Eurasian Christmas Pie (a Kristang Christmas Recipe) (2024)

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This Eurasian Christmas pie is a must for many Kristang families in Singapore and Malaysia, either on Christmas eve or Christmas day.

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

Eurasian Christmas Pie

Unlike many other Kristang recipes, our Eurasian Christmas pie is more European than a balance between the 2 cultures (European and Asian).

Kristang refers to the Eurasians in Singapore and Malaysia who can trace their ancestry back to the Portuguese colonisation of Malacca. You can read more about this on the Singaporean and Malaysian Recipes Page.

It’s a delicious bottomless pie filled with chicken, sausages, quail eggs, mushrooms, carrots and peas, all sitting in a creamy sauce that’s heavy on flavour. We top our pie off with buttery shortcrust pastry.

As mentioned above, this is a very traditional recipe for many Eurasian families in Singapore and Malaysia, those of Portuguese inclination. There is the odd difference in ingredients used but the main players remain the same.

The Recipe

This Eurasian Christmas pie recipe has two parts to it, as you’d expect with pies. We’ve got the pastry and we’ve got the filling. I’ve broken down the ingredients and steps into different parts to make the recipe easy to follow. This is what we’ll be doing:

1. Make the pastry and chill in the fridge while you get on with everything else. Use shop bought pastry if you prefer, but make sure it’s all butter for the best flavour.
2. Prepare all the filling ingredients. This will take a good 15-20 minutes, especially if you are boiling and peeling the quail eggs now.

   When I’m making this Kristang Christmas pie, I start with this step, then move on to the pastry. This way, it’s all a fluid process for me.
   
   But going off my cooking classes, my students always prefer to get the pastry out of the way, and hence the sequence here. I’ve been teaching this Eurasian pie for about 7 years or so, both onsite and online, and most of my students hate the pastry part!

   But let me tell you, I was making pastry at the tender age of 10 or 11 in my granny’s kitchen, it’s not difficult.

3. Cook the pie filling.
4. Assemble the pie and bake for 30 minutes.

Perfectly doable. Let’s go take a look at the ingredients, shall we?

Kristang Pie Pastry

While I love puff pastry, for today’s Kristang chicken pie, I’m going with shortcrust. The principle behind shortcrust pastry is that the fat used is short of the flour, hence the name. A typical shortcrust pastry has a 2:1 ratio of flour to fat, in this case, butter. But I’ve always preferred a slightly higher amount of butter for a tastier pastry. All we need:

• 300g (10.5 oz) all purpose flour, aka plain flour
• 200g (7 oz) salted butter (as opposed to 150g)
• ice cold water

The amount here will give you enough pastry to cover the pie dish that we need (more below) generously, and also, to cut out shapes to decorate the top with.

If you prefer to get shop bought pastry, go right ahead, not judging.😉

Eurasian Christmas Pie Filling

All the ingredients that we use in the filling want to be chopped up into bite-sized pieces. This is to make it easier to enjoy your pie, so you’re not having to fight with large pieces of meat.

Chicken

I am using skinless chicken thighs in this pie, as I much prefer the darker meat. But if you prefer chicken breasts, then by all means, use that. Just be sure to dice the meat up into bite-sized pieces.

I’ve also used other bird/game meat in the past: pheasant, duck, partridge and even rabbit. So feel free to change it up, if you fancy.

Sausages

Traditionally, tiny co*cktail sausages were used in this pie, and I’m sticking with those in this recipes. Choose the best quality that you can find, with as few unnecessary additives as possible.

If your co*cktail sausages are on the big side, as mine are, cut them up. And along the same lines, if you can only get regular sized sausages, by all means use that, cutting them up small.

What type of sausages to use in this Eurasian Christmas pie? Traditionally, it would be pork sausages, naturally. But you can please yourself here. I’ve even used chorizo for an amazing kick to the pie.

Quail Eggs

These are a must for most Kristang families making this pie. They add yet another different flavour to our pie and you definitely want to include them.

Can’t get quail eggs? Use regular boiled eggs, but don’t add them to the filling in the wok. Once you’ve transferred the chicken filling to the pie dish, just push a quarter or half egg amongst the chicken and sausages , then top with the pastry. 3 or 4 eggs will do.

Mushrooms

Button mushrooms are the mushroom of choice for many Eurasian families when it comes to making this Christmas pie. In fact, many used to, and still do, use canned button mushrooms. That’s a strict no in my kitchen. Fresh mushrooms are so easy to come by these days, right, so that’s what you want here.

If you want to change it up some here, by all means. Use a combination of mushrooms if you like, for more flavour. Anything you can get your hands on, but not dried shiitake, as the flavour will overpower our Eurasian Christmas pie.

Other Vegetables

I’m using onions, carrots and petit pois, the latter out of the freezer. Petit pois, which means little peas are young peas and much sweeter than what comes out of the matured pods that are sold as garden peas.

The carrots will want chopping up into little cubes.

In the past, I’ve also added spinach to the mix, along the lines of the Italian Easter pie, Torta Pasqualina.

Many families will also add cubed potatoes. I’ve done it too but find the pie becomes too starch heavy and more importantly, the spuds soak up all the sauce, giving you a dry pie.

Sauce Ingredients

I’ve classed everything else as being part of the sauce, so let’s take a look at the bigger players in making up our sauce. I’m using a combination of cream and chicken stock to make up the liquid.

Cream

We’ve got single cream here, which is lighter than double cream, a popular choice when making chicken pie. I personally find double cream (heavy cream) too rich in a pie, what with the pastry and all.

Single cream, as it’s called in the UK, has a fat of about 19g, so look for that wherever you live. If you want an even lighter affair, substitute the cream with milk.

Chicken Stock

Using chicken stock to make up our pie sauce ensures that the filling doesn’t fall short when it comes to flavour. You can use vegetable stock if you prefer.

A typical stock cube or stock pot is enough for 500ml (2 cups) of stock. Since our Kristang Christmas pie calls for 250ml (1 cup) of stock, you’ll just need half the cube or stock pot.

Brandy (Optional)

Some sort of alcohol always improves the flavour of much of what one is cooking. But if you don’t do alcohol, skip it, you’ll still have a delicious Christmas pie.

I’m using brandy here, as I love its flavour in stews and such. You can also use a dry white wine in its place.

Flavourings

I’m using Dijon mustard and a little curry powder for more flavour.

Dijon mustard is a must for any saucy or stew-y chicken recipes for me. It adds depth and a hint of tartness to our pie filling and sauce.

I started adding a touch of curry powder to my Eurasian Christmas pie many, many years ago. You can’t taste any curry in the end result, but what it does, is enhance the overall flavour. I’ve played around with different amounts in the past and 1/2 a tablespoon is the perfect amount, an invisible piece of the puzzle.

Many families will start off cooking the pie filling with a cinnamon stick, and/or a star anise and clove. They’ll then fish the spices out before topping. The curry powder is my alternative to that.

How to serve Eurasian Christmas Pie

It is always part of a Christmas meal, alongside other Eurasian Christmas recipes. This can be on Christmas Day itself or on Christmas eve. We have it on Christmas eve, along with a salad and another main dish. And plenty of chilli sauce. I am Singaporean after all, we smother everything in chilli sauce!

Because our Christmas pie is quite saucy, it could be served on its own with just a side salad or some cooked vegetables. Remember I mentioned right at the start that this Kristang pie is very much European in flavour? So you don’t have to stick to Asian accompaniments, if you don’t want to.

However, here’s a classic example of a Eurasian Christmas Day menu, give or take one dish:

• Curry Devil
• Eurasian Christmas Pie
• Feng
• Seybak
• Pot Roast Beef

Make Ahead Chicken Pie

Freeze the Whole Pie

You can freeze your Kristang Christmas pie uncooked or cooked, it doesn’t make any difference.

Uncooked Frozen Pie

To cook a frozen uncooked chicken pie is super easy. You don’t even need to defrost it. Just cook your chicken pie from frozen, adding 15 – 20 minutes to the cooking time, until the pastry is a nice golden colour.

The general rule is that an unbaked chicken pie usually needs about 50% more time.

Cooked Frozen Pie

Once your pie is cooked, cool it down completely. Then wrap well in foil and freeze for up to 1 month. To reheat, bake in the oven for 30 minutes at the same temperature.

Leftovers

If you have any chicken pie leftover, it can be stored, covered, in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes. If truth be told, I can’t be bothered and just zap it in the microwave for a soggy pastry result.

Drizzle a generous amount of yummy chilli sauce all over and who cares?

Vegetarian Eurasian Christmas Pie

Or make it vegan, if you like.

Vegetarian Pie

My kids are all vegetarian now, have been for a few years. And my girls are allergic to eggs, one of them severely. So I make this Kristang pie vegetarian by using vegan chicken pieces (which they love), vegan sausages and I lose the eggs. We have to go vegan with the “meat” to ensure they are egg free.

Sometimes I add broccoli to this or chargrilled artichokes. You could even use jackfruit if that’s your thing. There are many options with the vegetables.

Vegan Eurasian Christmas Pie

You can do the same as above, apart from the pastry. Vegan pastry is probably pretty easy to find, as it’s actually cheaper made without butter.

If making it yourself, make it with vegan butter or a vegetable fat like margarine.

And that, my good people, is about it. Let’s get cooking!

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