Ciulama de pui- Romanian chicken fricassee

Like many dishes on the Balkan peninsula, Romanian ciulama de pui (pronounced “choolahmuh”) has its origins in Turkish cuisine although the Turkish version (çullama) is something altogether different, referring more to a fried filled dough. Ciulama for the Romanian cook indicates the thick, rich creamy sauce in which the meat is cooked. Our version uses chicken but it could also be made with duck, veal, organ meat or just mushrooms. Using my method I was able to accommodate people who love and those who loathe mushrooms. Traditionally this dish is served with polenta or mamaliga.

I asked a Romanian roommate once what dish he missed from his homeland. He said ciulama de pui. I looked around for a few recipes and came up with the version I’m presenting here. The challenge for me was that he described it as a creamed chicken and mushroom dish; I despise mushrooms. I figured I could work around that by sautéing the mushrooms separately and adding them to the sauce later after I’d reserved some gravy for my portion. I later found out other authors recommend the same approach to prevent the mushrooms from watering down the stew.

The only mistake I made was not serving it with polenta (mămăligă). (He didn’t tell me that important detail until I was ready to plate it up with mashed potatoes). I found that the dish went rather well with mashed potatoes and really suited my middle-American taste. It’s really just a chicken fricassee served with polenta.

Preheat your oven to 325°F. The first order of business is dicing the vegetables into uniform pieces. Mix the celery, onions, carrots and garlic together and place half the vegetable mixture in the bottom of a flame proof casserole. Arrange the chicken pieces on top of the vegetables, season them with salt and pepper, then cover with the remaining diced vegetables. Cover the casserole and bake for one hour.

While the chicken and vegetable mixture is baking, slice the mushrooms and sautée them in a little oil over medium-high heat. I cook them separately because I want to reserve some of the cream sauce for anyone who wants to avoid mushrooms (me!) but this method has the added benefit of keeping the mushrooms from giving up their liquid in the stew and watering it down. Despite the lack of liquid in the pot initially, there will be a considerable amount after baking.

Check the pot after one hour. The chicken should be getting brown and the vegetables pretty much cooked through. If it seems under-done, return the casserole to the oven and cook another 20-30 minutes. I cooked mine a good 90 minutes before I moved on the next step where we add the cream sauce. One note on the chicken: you could use a whole chicken cut up and add a few extra pieces of dark meat but I found it easier to buy one package each of boneless skinless thighs and drumsticks. Dark meat is more moist and flavorful anyway so I didn’t see the need for butchering and skinning a whole chicken. If you find a whole skinless chicken cut up at the store, by all means go for it.

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Whisk together flour and cream with the paprika. Remove casserole from the oven and pour the cream into the pot. Cover the casserole and return to the oven for another 30 minutes. Put the casserole on the stovetop and carefully remove the chicken pieces to a serving dish; be careful as the meat will be tender. Over a low flame, stir the sauce and thicken to desired consistency. Remove a few portions as needed and add the sautéed mushrooms. Let the sauce cook a few more minutes to meld the mushroom flavor. Then pour the sauce over the chicken and serve. Sprinkle with fresh parsley before serving.

Though not typical technique, I would have liked this better had I dusted with seasoned flour and lightly pan fried the chicken pieces before stewing. They just looked a little anemic coming out of the stew. A sprinkling of paprika before serving really helped the visual appeal. Maybe someone who makes this dish a lot can comment on whether that would be blasphemous.

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