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TurkuazKitchen

Turkish Burned Milk Pudding with Chicken (Kazandibi)

Silky Turkish milk pudding, quietly enriched with finely shredded chicken breast for extra protein, set on a caramelized brown-sugar bottom. It tastes like crème brûlée, and you can't taste the chicken at all.

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Ingredients

For the Chicken

  • 1/2 lbchicken breast
  • 1lemon peel · peel from 1 lemon
  • 1 cupmilk
  • 1/2lemon zest · zest from 1/2 lemon
  • 1cinnamon stick

For the Pudding

  • 1 litermilk
  • 6 tbspcornstarch · 56g
  • 5 tbsprice flour · 50g
  • 3/4 cupgranulated sugar · 150g
  • 1 tbspbutter
  • 1 tspvanilla extract
  • 1vanilla bean · optional

For the Caramelized Bottom

  • 1/2 tspbutter
  • 1 tsppowdered sugar

For Serving

  • —ground cinnamon
  • —crushed hazelnuts · or your favorite nut; optional

Steps

  1. 1

    At least one day ahead, prepare the chicken: pierce the surface of the chicken breast repeatedly with a fork.

  2. 2

    In a medium pot, add the chicken breast, lemon peel, and enough water to cover. Boil for 25 minutes.

  3. 3

    Drain the chicken and let it cool, covered, until cool enough to handle. Break it into thin shreds with an electric hand mixer, then pound it with a meat tenderizer or other heavy object until the pieces are fine.

  4. 4

    Cover the chicken with cold water and refrigerate. After 30-45 minutes, drain and squeeze out the water. Add fresh cold water and repeat 1-2 more times until the chicken smell is gone. Store in the fridge overnight.

  5. 5

    The next day, strain the chicken and squeeze out any excess water with a cheesecloth. Add the milk, lemon zest, and cinnamon stick, then refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

  6. 6

    Make the pudding: in a medium pot over medium heat, whisk half of the milk with the rice flour, cornstarch, and sugar, then bring to a simmer.

  7. 7

    Add the rest of the milk and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until thickened to your liking. Stir in the vanilla extract and the scraped seeds of the vanilla bean, if using.

  8. 8

    Strain the chicken and pick out the cinnamon stick and any zest pieces. Add the chicken to the simmering pudding and cook for 2 more minutes.

  9. 9

    Remove from the heat and beat with an electric mixer for 10-15 minutes until smooth. If large chicken pieces remain, blend smooth with an immersion blender. Set aside 1/4 cup of the pudding.

  10. 10

    Grease the bottom and sides of a 12 x 7 inch flameproof baking dish with butter and sift the powdered sugar evenly over the bottom.

  11. 11

    Set the dish on the stovetop over medium heat. When the sugar begins to brown, spread the reserved 1/4 cup of pudding over it in an even layer with a spatula or bench scraper. Keep rotating the dish so the sugar doesn't burn, and cook until the pudding is brown and caramelized.

  12. 12

    Immediately set the dish over ice water to stop the cooking.

  13. 13

    Spread the rest of the pudding evenly on top and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight.

  14. 14

    Cut into 8 equal pieces. Lift each portion out with a spatula and serve caramelized side up, topped generously with ground cinnamon and crushed hazelnuts, if using.

Creator's notes

Kazandibi means "bottom of the cauldron," after the caramelized bottom. That layer tastes like crème brûlée or burnt Basque cheesecake rather than burnt. The creator says you can't taste the chicken at all. Start the chicken at least a day ahead, and use a flameproof dish because the bottom is caramelized on the stovetop.

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