Crystelle Pereira

A necessary bit of honesty about the published recipe

The verified handshake is Lily Nana’s Pickle Cottage terrine pie. The official GBBO page linked in the research index publishes Crystelle’s Curried Chicken & Potato Terrine Pie, an official related terrine-pie recipe rather than a frame-for-frame transcript of the Showstopper. It is reproduced here as that clearly labelled adaptation, not as a claim that the page supplies the exact on-screen filling.

Why it earned the handshake

The related official recipe shows the architecture that makes Crystelle’s pastry work distinctive: a spiced hot-water crust enclosing separate potato and chicken curry layers, sweet-potato slices, and a decorative leaf-and-berry lid. The pie is built to be sliced cold, so the layers read as deliberately as the pastry decoration.

Ingredients

Chicken curry filling

• 600g skinless, boneless chicken thighs, diced into 2cm pieces
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2–15ml chilli powder, to taste
• 60ml ketchup
• 30ml extra-virgin coconut oil
• 1 sweet potato, thinly sliced
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 7.5ml ground coriander
• 60ml cider vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Potato curry filling

• 5 potatoes, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
• Large pinch of salt
• 30ml extra-virgin coconut oil
• 20ml lentils
• 20ml black mustard seeds
• 5ml turmeric
• 15ml cumin seeds
• 2 fresh or dried curry leaves
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 10ml grated fresh ginger
• 70g blanched peanuts
• 10ml sugar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Hot-water crust pastry

• 500g plain flour
• 150g strong white bread flour
• 125g unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
• 150g lard
• 2.5ml salt
• 10ml turmeric
• 5ml curry powder
• 2.5ml freshly ground black pepper
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

You will also need a 23 x 13cm terrine tin or 23cm springform tin and a small leaf cutter.

Method

1. Coat the chicken with the garlic, chilli powder, and 45ml ketchup. Cover and marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature, or overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Cover the potatoes with cold water, add the salt, bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes until tender.
3. Heat the coconut oil in a sauté pan. Fry the lentils and spices for 2–3 minutes, add the onion for 5–10 minutes until translucent, then soften the garlic and ginger for another 2–3 minutes.
4. Drain the potatoes into the spiced onion pan. Fry for 2–3 minutes, stir in the peanuts and sugar, season, and cool to room temperature.
5. Fry the sweet-potato slices in coconut oil for about 5 minutes until beginning to soften. Remove them. Cook the remaining onion until translucent and lightly golden, then add the coriander for 30 seconds.
6. Add the chicken and its marinade, the remaining ketchup, and cider vinegar. Simmer for 20 minutes until cooked through, then cool completely.
7. Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan. Combine the flours and rub in the butter. Heat 310ml water with the lard, salt, spices, and pepper until the lard melts; bring to a boil, pour over the flour, and mix quickly. Knead briefly once cool enough to handle.
8. Wrap one quarter of the dough and one third of the remaining dough. Roll out the rest to 4mm thick and line the tin, leaving an overhang. Roll the wrapped third into a lid.
9. Pack in half the potato curry, half the sweet-potato slices, all the chicken curry, the remaining sweet potato, and the remaining potato curry. Press the layers firmly into a domed shape.
10. Brush the pastry rim with egg, add the lid, seal and trim, then crimp. Cut two steam holes.
11. Roll out the reserved quarter, cut leaves, and form small berries from the trimmings. Stick them to the lid with egg and brush the whole pie with the remaining egg.
12. Bake in a roasting tin for 20 minutes. Lower the oven to 180°C/160°C fan and bake for another hour, until deeply golden.
13. Cool the pie completely before removing it from the tin. Slice and serve at room temperature.

Baker’s tips

• Hot-water crust must be shaped while pliable; work efficiently, but do not knead it longer than needed.
• Cool both fillings before assembly so the pastry stays firm and the layers remain distinct.
• Pack the filling tightly and provide steam holes; this is a tall pie, not a loose casserole in pastry.

Make-ahead

This terrine pie is designed to cool completely before slicing and is well suited to making ahead. Keep it chilled after cooling and bring it toward room temperature for the cleanest texture.