One of Sweden’s most controversial dishes, the ‘Flying Jacob’ was first created in the 1970’s by an air-freight porter called Ove Jacobsson. Having contact with various exotic ingredients during his career, Ove created this dish and found it was extremely well-received despite a questionable mixture of ingredients. Traditionally cooked in the oven as a casserole, ‘Flying Jacob’ combines chicken, bacon and cream with a very strange medley of chilli sauce, diced banana and toasted peanuts. Despite the initial horror, the ingredients actually harmonise extremely well during cooking, producing a creamy, crunchy and slightly spicy dish that’s usually served with white rice in Sweden. I really encourage you to try this, but perhaps don’t tell anyone exactly what’s in it until after the fact! Let’s go!
INGREDIENTS (serves 2x)
1x tablespoon cooking oil
50g diced bacon/lardons
2x chicken breasts, sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp black pepper
1x banana (not too brown/ripe), diced
100ml double cream
100ml milk
1x chicken stock cube (or 1 tsp chicken stock powder)
2 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce
50g of toasted peanuts
To serve: white rice
WALKTHROUGH
Place an oven-proof pan or pot onto medium heat. Add the 1 tablespoon of cooking oil followed by the 50g of diced bacon. Fry the bacon until crisp, about 2-3 minutes.
Add the 2x sliced chicken breasts, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground coriander and 1/4 tsp black pepper and fry for 1-2 minutes on medium heat until sealed.
Add the sliced banana followed by the 100ml of double cream, 100ml of milk, crumbled 1x chicken stock cube (or 1 tsp of chicken stock powder) and the 2 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce. Stir until combined and bring the liquid to a boil.
Once boiling, transfer the pot to the middle of the oven and bake at 180C/350F for 20 minutes until bubbling.
Remove the pot from the oven and allow it to cool slightly before scattering over 50g of toasted peanuts.
Serve the Flying Jacob with white rice and prepare to tell everybody the secret ingredients - enjoy!
I'm utterly and equally fascinated, dumbstruck and appalled by this one! Incredible, and never heard of it before either. Thanks for another really interesting post!