Foraged Curried Chicken Pot Pie (Meat-Free)
Rich, creamy, spiced, sweet and savory, it is curried chicken pot pie, but foraged. Oh and vegan. That’s right, the “chicken” in this pot pie literally grew on trees. Soft and tender chicken of the woods mushrooms is very much at home with cauliflower and butternut squash. To that we add Indian spices, and a rich, coconut-based sauce. Baked under crispy puff pastry, this is one cozy and delicious Autumn pot pie.
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This Mushroom Tastes Like Chicken
Nature makes some strange and surprising things- from carnivorous plants, to flowers that smell like a rotting corpse, giant waterlilies big enough to support a human, to mushrooms that flash blue, mushrooms that glow in the dark, and more. Considering all that, I guess it’s not really too surprising that we also have a mushroom with decidedly chicken-like flavors and texture. Chicken of the woods mushroom are actually several species of polypore mushroom, all found within the genus Laetiporus, which means something along the lines of “lucky pores” in Latin. Chicken of the woods mushrooms can be found widely across North America, with some species also found in parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. There are seven species of chicken of the woods mushrooms found across North America. They tend to be traffic cone orange in color, but depending on the species, season, rain, and more they can look closer to red, pink, orange, peach, or white. They grow on hardwoods and conifers, although some report gastric distress when eating Laeptiporus found on conifers. Some speicies grow clustered at the base of trees in rosettes, while others grow like shelfs up the trunks of trees. Chicken of the woods are parasitic and saprotrophic, meaning that they feed on live trees and decompose dead wood. Young chicken of woods are soft and spongy, while as older specimens are drier and more brittle. They have the same stringy nature as chicken does.
Disclaimer: When foraging wild mushrooms, you are responsible to verify beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have positively identified that mushroom. While I take responsibility for the accuracy of the information on this site, I cannot take responsibility for the identification of the mushrooms you’ve foraged. Please consult multiple resources (books, websites, and human experts) to verify the identification of your mushroom.
I am not going to provide additional
information on identifying chicken of the woods in this post, but you can read this recipe I wrote previously for more information.
Looking for Chicken of the Woods Recipes? Try one of these!
- Chicken of the Woods Salad with Cranberries
- Vegetarian Chicken Nuggets (Chicken of the Woods Recipe)
- Cream of Chicken of the Woods Mushroom Soup
- Chicken of the Woods Mushroom Picatta
- Chicken of the Woods Vegan Pad Kee Mao
- Butter Chicken of the Woods (Vegan Butter Chicken)
Looking for Savory Pies? Try one of these!
- Savory Mushroom Vegan Hot Water Crust Pie
- Tastes Like Chicken Pie
- Vegan Shepard’s Pie with White Beans and Kohlrabi
- Savory Kale Pie
- 20 Vegan Savory Pie Recipes (Tarts and Quiches Too!)
How to Make Curried Chicken Pot Pie
The basic idea behind this pot pie is we first make the filling, and then throw it in a casserole dish with a puff-pastry crust on top. We chose a puff pastry top to keep life simple, and opted for a top-only crust instead of an all-the-way-around crust, where you have to worry about the bottom getting soggy and not baking. The filling is a combination of Indian spices and flavors, along with chicken of the woods mushrooms, butternut squash, and cauliflower. As an aside, I chopped my chicken of the woods mushrooms into bite-sized pieces, but next time I would probably shred them, as I think it gives it a better texture. They’re all added to a sauté pan slowly, adding the ingredients in turns to build up the flavor. Once all the vegetables are in the pan, a little flour is used to thicken it and coconut milk is used to make a creamy sauce. Coconut is a very strong flavor, but in this case it really lends itself to the curry-like sauce. I chose to do a meandering, whimsical little lattice top with my puff pastry, which you could do, or you could go with a single round puff pastry sheet, or whatever else strikes your fancy. Just make sure you include some way for the steam to vent through the pastry. Otherwise you risk a pie-explosion or a soggy crust, neither of which are fun. Bake the pie for about 45 minutes- if you feel the crust is getting too dark, you can throw some aluminum foil on top while it bakes.
Foraged Curried Chicken Pot Pie (Meat-Free)
Ingredients
- 1-1 ½ lbs. chicken of the woods mushrooms
- ¼ cup vegan butter
- 1 medium-sized onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp. grated ginger
- ½ small butternut squash
- ¼ head of cauliflower
- 5-10 curry leaves
- 1 tsp. cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp. curry powder
- 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 13.5 oz. can full-fat coconut milk
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 sheet vegan puff-pastry
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Clean your mushrooms, and chop or shred them into bite-sized pieces. Dice the onion. Mince the garlic and grate the ginger. Remove the skin from the butternut squash, and chop the flesh into small pieces. Remove the leaves from the cauliflower, and chop the stalk and florets into small pieces.
- Melt the vegan butter in a large skillet. Add the curry leaves and cumin seeds, and once they start to pop toss in the onions. Sauté for 3-4 minutes, then toss in the garlic and ginger. Cook for a minute or two, then add your mushrooms. Cook on medium heat, covered, until the mushrooms soften. Add the cauliflower, squash, and curry powder and stir so it’s all coated. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add the flour. Stir well, and add the coconut milk. Fill the can up with water, and add that to the skillet as well. Stir well, and cook for a few minutes to thicken. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Transfer the whole mixture to a large casserole dish. Cover with a sheet of puff pastry- I did a lattice in mine, but you can do it however you like. Just make sure there is a hole in the top so steam can vent. Place in the oven, and bake for 45 minutes until the crust is golden brown.
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