I have neglected to post the recipe for this milky dessert with a surprising ingredient; chicken. It is one of the most famous desserts Turks are proud of and enjoy to surprise those who have never heard or tasted.
This dessert dates back to the Ottoman times where it was cooked in the massive kitchens of the palace and served to sultans and their guests. It was served in special shovel shaped square dessert spoons. It is also said that the Ottoman chefs learned this dessert from Byzantines, who got it from Romans. I guess the world was also small even then.
When I first made this dessert at home I thought it was an insult to the chicken as it gets to be cooked, then washed many times and finely shredded and eventually added to a pudding. But then I had to accept that only after such a process the chicken lost its smell and added a stretchy texture to this amazing dessert.
You can start to make this dessert the day before serving, as it gets better when it is chilled.
There is also a vegetarian version of this delicious dessert.
Hope you will try and enjoy.
Chicken Breast Dessert
Ingredients
- ½ chicken breast
- 1 litre milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 40 grams wheat starch
- 100 grams rice flour
- 200 grams sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- The chicken should be with no skin and should be fresh – not frozen earlier.
- Place the chicken in a pot, cover with water. Do not add anything else, no salt either. Boil and then let simmer for 20-25 minutes. The chicken should be well done, boil longer if necessary or use a pressure cooker.
- Drain and save the stock for using in another dish.
- Shred the chicken breast to thin long pieces using your fingers or two forks.
- Wash under flowing water. Drain and squeeze out excess water. Then place in a bowl of fresh cold water and leave aside for 10 minutes. Repeat 3 times. This process can be done the day before. If this is the case, keep the chicken in the fridge, in a covered bowl. All the process about boiling, washing and draining the chicken is done to get rid of the chicken smell.
- Put the rice flour and starch in a bowl and about 100 millilitres of the cold milk. Whisk to blend.
- Put the remaining milk in a bowl and start heating.
- Before the milk comes boil add the rice flour and starch with cold milk very slowly while mixing with a whisker.
- Continuously mix while the mixture turns into a pudding over medium-low heat.
- After the final washing, drain the shredded chicken once again and squeeze out the excess water. Transfer to a bowl.
- Add a few tablespoons of milky mixture to the chicken and mix well. This will help balance the temperature of the chicken and make it ready to be combined with the rest of the milky mixture.
- When the chicken is slightly warmed, add all the chicken to the milky mixture. Whisk everything as if beating, until you obtain a sticky pudding.
- Add the sugar at this stage.
- Cook over very low heat for an additional minute or until the sugar is dissolved.
- Remove from heat and then add the vanilla extract.
- Pour the dessert into a wetted square pyrex dish. Once cooled cut to slices or make fat rolls using a wetted spoon. Sprinkle ground cinnamon on top. Serve chilled for at least an hour.
- Vanilla ice cream will be a good side for this dessert.