turkish sweet chicken pudding

This unusual dessert is a classic in Turkey. Western tastes and conventions find a dessert made with chicken a little eccentric. You can’t taste the chicken, but it adds a thick, stretchy texture to this not-so-sweet dish. The dish can be prepared two ways; the first is plain, as in the basic instructions that follow. For the other version, the mixture is poured into a skillet and caramelized on one side. You can then either cut it into squares and serve them caramelized-side up, or roll it up showing the caramelized side and serve like a jelly roll. I like the caramelized version, but at home it is easier to prepare it plain. For the adventurous, I also give instructions for the caramelized variation.

SERVES 4 TO 6

3 oz [90 g] boneless, skinless chicken breast

3 cups [720 ml] whole milk

¹/₂ cup [75 g] rice flour

¹/₃ cup [65 g] organic cane sugar, or to taste

Orange Blossom Jam (page 128) or ground cinnamon for garnish

Put the chicken in a small saucepan, add enough water to cover, and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil; lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until very tender. Remove the chicken and rinse under cold water; shred into fine threads. (The threads should mostly disappear into the pudding, with only the occasional bite containing a discernible bit of chicken.) Rinse again and pat dry with paper towels. Cover and set aside.

Bring 2 cups [480 ml] of the milk to a boil over medium-high heat. Mix the remaining 1 cup [240 ml] milk with the rice flour, stirring until creamy. Turn the heat under the milk to low and whisk the rice flour mixture into the hot milk. Keep whisking for 10 minutes. Add the sugar and cook for another 10 minutes, whisking all the time. Stir in the shredded chicken and continue cooking, whisking all the time, for another 10 minutes or so. You want the chicken to disappear almost completely in the pudding.

Divide the mixture equally among four or six individual bowls, or pour it into one large serving dish. Let cool, and then refrigerate for about 2 hours to serve chilled, either topped with a spoonful of the jam or sprinkled with a little cinnamon.

Variation: To make the caramelized version, after the whisking stage, pour the pudding into a medium-size rectangular nonstick baking pan to a thickness of about ³/₄ in [1.5 cm]. Place one corner of the pan over very low heat and let the bottom caramelize for 10 to 15 minutes, until it turns dark brown. Turn the dish to let another corner caramelize. Continue turning the dish until the entire bottom has browned. (You could use a round pan, which will make it easier and quicker—only 10 to 15 minutes total—to brown the bottom evenly because you heat the entire pan at once; however, because of the round edges, you won’t be able to cut the entire pudding into rectangles.) Once the bottom has browned, cut the pudding into about six rectangles, lifting each off the pan and rolling as you go along to serve like a jelly roll. Cover and refrigerate for about 2 hours until chilled, or for up to 1 day, before serving.