Friday

Pom (Surinamese chicken casserole)



I'd been hesitant to try this until a former colleague of mine brought pom rolls to work as a birthday treat instead of the obligatory cake. To my own surprise, I loved it! I got the recipe from another colleague, made some minor adjustments and now make this on a regular basis. It freezes well too, so I divide it into single portions with some rice and veggies for busy days.

What you need (approx. 8 servings):
1kg grated tayerroot, thawed (frozen, sold at exotic grocery stores)
400g chicken breast in strips
0,5 jar piccalilly
1 small can tomato puree
1 tomato, cut in cubes
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 stalks of celery
juice of 2 oranges, or 1 glass of orange juice
1 glass of water
1 chicken stock cube
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp allspice
salt, pepper
sambal oelek (chili paste) to taste
oil + knob of butter



Heat the oil and butter, and fry the chicken until golden brown. Add onion, garlic and sambal oelek, and sautée until the onion is translucent. Add orange juice, water, allspice, tomato, puree, stock cube and celery and let simmer for approx. 25mins.
Pre-heat the oven at 200C.
In a bowl, mix the sugar and piccalilli with the grated tayerroot. Take the chicken out of the sauce and mix the sauce gradually with the tayer mixture.
Grease a casserole dish and pour in half the tayer mixture. Spread the chicken evenly over the tayer mixture and cover with the rest of the tayer mixture.
Cover the dish with aluminium foil and bake for at least 1 hour. Take off the foil and bake for at least another half hour until the top is brown and set.

Serve with rice and stir-fried green beans (yardlong beans or 'kouseband') or on a white roll (‘broodje pom’)

11 comments:

  1. Hi there, thanks for the recipe. I first had pom chicken when I was in.amsterdam (Kam Yin). It was so good that I had it everyday throughout my stay! Lol. I've tried googling tayerroot but nothing showed up. Can you confirm if tayerroot is also known as arrowroot? Thanks in advance.
    Nic

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  2. Hi,
    I was searching for good recipe and found yours. I'm preparing this for late lunch for tomorrow, so please help me, I have one question regarding the taste: is it kind a sweet, spicy...? Could you describe it? I'm making this for my friends so I need to be sure it's the right dish to start with.
    Thanx!

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    Replies
    1. Sorry I didn't get back to you in time for your lunch party. Note that you can make this as spicy as you want, depending how much and what kind ofchili paste you use - I usually use only about a teaspoon but you could definitely add more, depending on your preference. Sambal oelek is one of the milder sambal varieties, a sambal made of scotch bonnet / Madame Jeanette chilies would be a lot spicier. You could always err on the side of caution and use only a little bit, and have people add extra chili paste on their plate. (When serving this on a roll, many people will add a bit of extra sambal to the bread before spooning on the pom)

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  3. I made this tonight and it came out very tasty. However, I interpreted "grated" as you might grate, say, a mozzarella. The top came out very stringy. A native Surinaamese friend who tried it suggested more of a puréeing. While the taste wont be different, I think the grated tayerroot was more prone to falling apart.

    It was quite tasty, though.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your feedback, I´m glad you liked it!
      Regarding the tayer root: so far I´ve always used ready-grated frozen (thawed) store-bought tayer, so I´ve never grated it myself. The texture is quite fine, I guess more like carrots you´d grate for carrot cake than cheese.
      When the pom is done, the top should be a bit crunchy and the rest should be more like a sticky puree rather than stringy. Hope this helps!

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    2. If you cant find Tayer, you can use sweet potato. I live on Vanouver Island and i cant find tayer here. Anyone know where to find Tayer on the island or in Vancouver, grating is alot of work :)

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  4. Excellent recipe. But note that if you use taya, the calcium oxalate can irritate the skin. Alleviate the sting with lemon juice. Calcium oxalate is destroyed by exposure to heat.

    Instead of piccalilli, I use mustard.

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  5. I looking for tayer root to on Vancouver Island . I know you can get it at the caribean store in Vancouver. What would it taste like with sweet potatoes? Don't think that would be the same.

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  6. Tayer can be purchased at the caribean store in Vancouver. I also live on Vancouver Island and was wondering how sweet potatoes would taste for pom?

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  7. I have tried this recipe several time with excellent results.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your feedback, glad to hear that! :-)

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