Tavuk gogsu – dessert pudding with chicken

MK TR GR GR

Turkish cuisine features a number of desserts prepared with milk but a dessert that includes meat is a rare thing to find in any cuisine. Tavuk gogsu (tavuk göğsü) is a kind of milk pudding common in traditional Turkish cuisine, whose name literally means “chicken breast”. I know this sounds a bit strange and I couldn’t believe that it is possible to make such a tasty dessert with chicken, so when the waiter told me it was a chicken pudding I thought it was a joke.
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You can’t taste the chicken at all, because the meat is well cooked and processed. The only thing you’ll notice are fine shreds of chicken which makes this dessert unique. It used to be served to the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire in Topkapi Palace and is now considered a traditional dessert in Turkey. It can be prepared without meat for vegetarians.

Ingredients:

– 7 cups milk

– 1.5 cup sugar

– ¾ cup thickener (cornstarch)

– 1 ¼ cup rice flour

– 1 ½ cup water

– ½ tablespoon of salt

– 1 piece of chicken breast

– cinnamon

Preparation:

Boil the chicken breast until it gets really soft. Cut it into long (about 5cm) thin pieces, then rub them with your hands until they turn into fine threads. Rinse them in hot water 3-4 times changing the water each time, then drain the water well until the meat is completely dry. Pour milk, sugar and salt in a pot and let the sugar melt. Mix the flour and thickener in a separate bowl. Slowly add some milk and stir to get a smooth paste. Pour the paste in the pot and stir until it starts to thicken. Take 4-5 tablespoons of the pudding and mix it with the chicken threads, stir with a fork and put the mixture back in the pudding. Boil at low heat and stir constantly until it thickens. When it is ready pour it in a baking pan (2-3 cm deep) which can be put both in the fridge and in the oven. Bake it for a little while only on the bottom and leave in a refrigerator for 2-3 hours. Cut into rectangles and roll it into thin rolls with the baked side up. Finally sprinkle some cinnamon on the rolls.

Afiyet olsun 🙂

Kristina Angeleska