Ping Gai Chicken - Laotian "Grilled Chicken Chicken"

This Pouding Chômeur, which translates to “unemployed man’s pudding,” is one of your more ironically named recipes, since the main ingredients aren’t cheap. The good news is you probably don’t want to eat this more than a few times a year anyway, so it shouldn’t break the budget.

If you use a bigger baking dish than I did, and pour over all the maple cream syrup, your cake should float over a pool of what will eventually be your sauce. If you just use a deep pie dish like me, then you’ll have to serve the extra sauce later, which may work out even better anyway.

Be sure to stop between 1/2 and 1-inch from the top of your dish, because this will soufflé up, and the molten syrup will run all over. Which reminds me, be sure to use a sheet pan underneath, as neither maple syrup nor heavy cream is recommended for the bottom of your oven.

This is the perfect dessert to pair with summer fruit, and I hear that a scoop of vanilla ice cream only improves things further. So, thanks to my French-Canadian friends who suggested this recipe to follow the Poutine, and to all of you, I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 Portions:

For the syrup:

2 cups maple syrup

2 cups heavy cream

Note: I had plenty extra, so you may be able to reduce these amounts

For the batter:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs (use room temperature for best results)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

- 425 F. for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean