This  Creole chicken fricassée is a comforting and flavorful dish  which, unlike the traditional French fricassée, is  cooked with very young wax gourd and flavoured with garlic and ginger.

Fricassée is a French culinary term that pertains to a cooking method that is a cross between a sauté and a stew.  It is theorised that the word is derived from a compound of the French frire meaning to fry and casser  meaning to break into pieces.

A good traditional French fricassée starts with meat being cut in small pieces, then sautéed, or some would say browned,  and then simmered in a white sauce and flavoured with a handful of aromatics and spices. The ultimate product is a hearty dish with a rich and silky sauce.

Unlike the French method of cookery, described above, the Seychellois frikase is a term used when meat or fish is first fried and then cooked with pumpkin or other vegetables and gourds such as kalbas or wax gourd locally known as pousinika. The dish is always flavoured with ginger and garlic and takes on the colour of the vegetables used. For example, if it is cooked with pumpkin it will take on a yellowish-orange colour and if it is cooked with pousinika a pale colour.

For this chicken frikase we have used the wax gourd also known as ash gourd or pousinika

What is Wax Gourd?

The wax gourd, which looks like a fat cucumber, is fuzzy when immature and  has a thick white flesh that is sweet when eaten. By maturity, the fruit loses its hairs and develops a waxy coating, giving rise to the name wax gourd.

Wax gourd has a mild to bland flavour with a hint of sweetness and juicy texture a little like a zucchini. If it is stored naturally in dry conditions can be kept for a long time. What contributes to its longevity is the chalky wax on its skin which prevents micro-organisms from attacking it and consequently preserves it. However, once the inside has been exposed to air, it keeps badly. Even when stored in a refrigerator and sealed, it may not last more than one week. Therefore if you buy a whole one, then you need to plan using it all of it quite quickly.

Preparing the gourd

Choose a full-sized, immature gourd with an unblemished rind or skin. If the gourd is very young, all you will need will be a potato peeler to remove the rind. However is the gourd is mature, the rind becomes harder and you will need a sharp knife to peel it.

Once peeled, cut it into small cubes. If the fruit is very young you can keep the seeds but if the gourd is mature you will have to cut the seeds away and use only the flesh.

In this recipe we have used a very young fruit and we have used the fruit with the seeds.

Preparing the dish

Wash your chicken and cut into bite size pieces, pat dry and season with salt and pepper and keep.

Heat oil in a heavy pan and shallow fry chicken pieces, until light brown, remove from oil and drain and keep.

Wash the wax gourd, peel off the skin and cut into small cubes.

Sweat chopped onion in a heavy pot and add ginger and garlic. Ensure that you have a  pot with a heavy lid because you will be steaming the gourd and need to keep the steam in the pot as much as possible to soften the gourd.

Turn the heat on low, throw in a few twigs of parsley and thyme and stir.   Add the cubed wax gourd into the pot , stir   and place lid on and steam the gourd in its own juice. Stir consistently and cook until soft, for about 30 minutes.

Add the fried chicken and water, mix well  and cook on a gentle heat for about 15 minutes. The gourd will partially break up  and slightly thickens the dish.

Once the dish is cooked remove the sprigs of parsley and thyme, season and serve the frikase with plain boiled rice and a cucumber salad

Tips

Make sure that you do not overcook the wax gourd. If overcooked, it can become mushy. You require a slightly crunchy texture.  Because it has a bland taste the gourd absorbs well the flavors of whatever spices you use.

You will notice that we throw in a few sprigs of thyme and parsley and remove them after the dish is cooked.  In French cookery you would tie the herbs together and call the small bunch a bouquet garni.  However, in the creole cookery, which may not be as refined, we do not have such a word and technique.

The frikase is best enjoyed immediately after cooking with plain boiled rice but you can also make it ahead in the day and put it in the fridge until dinner.

Here is the recipe for Fricassée of Chicken with Wax Gourd-Frikase Poul ek Pousinika

Did you make this recipe?

I hope you will enjoy cooking this dish. Please let me know how it turned out for you. If you have a different version of the recipe or have related questions, please leave your comments below.

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