Description

Tavuk göğsü — chicken breast pudding — is perhaps the most surprising dessert in the Turkish repertoire: a smooth, silky milk pudding containing shredded fibers of cooked chicken breast. For the uninitiated, the idea provokes disbelief. For anyone who has tasted it, the reaction is almost always one of astonished pleasure — the chicken is imperceptible in flavor, contributing only a subtle textural depth to a dessert that is otherwise entirely sweet and dairy-rich.

Ingredients

• 1/2 skinless, boneless chicken breast
• 4 cups milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp rice flour
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Cinnamon for dusting

Instructions

1. Boil the chicken breast until very tender. Let it cool, then tear it into the finest possible hair-like shreds. Rinse the shreds in cold water multiple times, squeezing them dry, until there is no chicken smell left.
2. In a pot, mix milk, sugar, rice flour, and cornstarch. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.
3. Take a ladle of the hot pudding and mix it into the shredded chicken to loosen it.
4. Add the chicken mixture back into the pot. Cook for a few more minutes, stirring vigorously or using an immersion blender to ensure the chicken is completely integrated.
5. Stir in vanilla.
6. Pour into a wet rectangular glass dish. Let it cool and refrigerate for several hours.
7. Cut into squares, dust generously with cinnamon, and serve cold.