Chicken Saute is one of the favorite main dishes of Turkish cuisine. It is very easy and economical to prepare. It is made with chicken breast and many other ingredients that can add different flavors to the dish. You may find chicken breast tasteless; however, the ingredients we are going to use will change your mind about chicken breast’s dull taste. Chicken Saute is a dish to that you can add endless ingredients to it, but I like to keep recipes simple.
Chicken Saute is a low-fat, high-protein, and rich taste main dish that you can always count on. If you are in a hurry, you can easily cook Chicken Saute with any ingredients you have in your storage. Chicken Saute was also the favorite dish in the Ottoman palace too. Maybe the Sultans were too busy and they need to eat a quick dish sometime. Who knows? Let’s see how it was at that time.
Poultry in Ottoman Empire Era
One of the most popular commanders and the sultan of the Ottoman Empire was Fatih Sultan Mehmet. He conquered Istanbul in 1453 and his period was the most glorious time of the Ottoman Empire. In his ruling period, even Ottoman cuisine’s fame passed the borders of the Ottoman Empire and reached the Arab lands in the south and the Balkans in the west. Ottoman historians say that the favorite dish of the Sultan was Chicken Saute. Historians say that the Sultan palace’s kitchen was about 5250 square-meter and it was formed by 8 separate divisions and one of these divisions was only for poultry. The below photo is showing the size of the Ottoman Palace kitchen.
Can you imagine having an organic poultry division in the kitchen? What a luxury is that? The below recipe was the exact same recipe that was cooked in the Ottoman Palace at that time. I got it from an Ottoman historian in Istanbul and it is easy to cook.
When I ask the historian, how on earth they kept the recipes of a chicken dish in the Palace. He told me that Ottoman Empire was so careful in recording everything. And preserving the cuisine details was so important at that time. Thanks to the palace’s kitchen staff for recording all Ottoman Cuisine recipes.
Chicken Saute
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breast cubed cut
- 1 red bell pepper julienne cut
- 1 orange bell pepper julienne cut
- 1 green bell pepper julienne cut
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 clove garlic sliced
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 5 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground paprika
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
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Put the olive oil to the saucepan and then add the cubed cut chicken breasts. Saute them at medium heat about 3 minutes. Add sliced onions, garlic and continue to saute all until onions get softy.
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Add the julienne cut red, orange and green sweet peppers, ground paprika and saute them about 7 minutes until sweet peppers get softy.
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Add the soy sauce and continue to stir all about 2-3 minutes. Then add the 1/2 cup of water and close the saucepan lid and let it cook 20 minutes at low-medium heat.
