Circassian Chicken

Circassian chicken is a rich paste made with crushed walnuts, chicken and stock thickened with stale bread. Circassian Chicken is a classic Turkish dish typically served cold as an appetizer. It's very stylish and you're gonna love combination of chicken and walnuts! Here is the recipe

Circassian chicken

Circassian chicken

Origin: Turkish

Difficulty: Easy-Moderate 

Ingredients:

-(Must) 8 cups water

-(Optional) 1 large onion, coarsely chopped and 1 small onion, minced
-(Optional) 2 whole carrots, either peeled or scrubbed with a wire brush, and coarsely chopped
-(Optional) 2 bay leaves
-(Optional) 8 peppercorns
-(Optional) 3 tsp salt (divided)
-(Must) 3 tbsp chicken-flavor base
-(Optional) 1 tsp dried thyme
-(Optional) 2 tbsp dried parsley
-(Optional) 3 whole cloves
-(Must) 3 Ibs or equivalently 1.4 kg boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed of fat
-(Must) 3/4 pound or equivalently 0.35 kg walnuts
-(Must) 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
-(Optional) 2 tbsp plus 2 teaspoons sweet paprika (divided)
-(Optional) 2 tsp Hungarian half-sharp paprika
-(Must) 3 slices good French bread (crusts removed), soaked in milk and then squeezed dry
-(Must) 4 tbsp walnut oil (divided/ if not available olive oil)

Directions:

In large pot, combine all ingredients for the cooking broth: water, coarsely chopped onion, carrots, bay leaves, peppercorns, 1 teaspoon of the salt, chicken base, thyme, parsley and cloves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Add the chicken, cover and simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat, remove lid and allow chicken to cool in broth about 45 minutes.

While chicken cools, set aside a dozen or so of the prettiest walnut halves. Pour the remaining nuts into a food processor and grind until fine. Put ground walnuts in large mixing bowl and add garlic, minced onion, 2 tablespoons of the sweet paprika and the sharp paprika. Break up the wrung-out bread and throw it in the bowl. Add remaining 2 teaspoons salt. Stir to mix.

Remove some of the cooking broth from the pot and strain through mesh strainer to measure 2 cups. Stir strained broth into mixture in bowl along with 1 tablespoon of the walnut oil. Put this mixture in batches into food processor and grind it to a smooth pouring consistency; if the walnut binding sauce is too thick, add more strained broth.

When the chicken has cooled sufficiently, remove it from the broth and shred it by hand, pulling to separate the fibers of the meat. (I told you this dish was labor-intensive.) The resulting pieces need not -- actually, should not -- be uniform. In a large bowl, fold the sauce into the chicken until mixture is uniform. Place chicken salad into a serving bowl or onto a platter and form into a mound. Decorate with the walnut halves you set aside earlier. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Just before serving, warm remaining 3 tablespoons walnut oil in the microwave or in a small saucepan over low heat. Off the heat, add remaining 2 teaspoons sweet paprika and stir to blend with the oil. Decorate the salad with the reddened oil. Serve on crackers, on pita wedges, on baguette slices or simply on a plate.

Circassian chicken

Estimetad Nutrition Values  (by myfitnesspal.com)
Serves: 8-12	Calorie	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sugar
Per Serving	415 kcal	15 gr	25 gr	33 gr	2 gr