Ciulama de pui cu ciuperci (Romanian chicken and mushroom roux)

This is a traditional Romanian stew-like dish, featuring chicken, or mushrooms, or both (like here) in a white sauce (based on roux). It's a bit heavy and hearty but utterly delicious. This is my mom's recipe, so it's the real deal, you can trust it to be as authentic as possible :).
When this is done with chicken, it's called "Ciulama de pui", and if it's the vegetarian mushroom version, it's called "Ciulama de ciuperci". Traditionally, it's served with mămăligă (Romanian polenta; you can find instructions on how to make it here).
All in all, it's quite delicious and way easier to make than it sounds (roux, yikes, I know). Enjoy.

Last year: Toasted bread with za'atar and olive oil (vegan).
Two years ago: Mini filled paprikas (raw vegan).
Three years ago: Beer lemonade (Radler) with strawberries (vegan).
Four years ago: Baby making and no cooking :).




Ingredients (serves 4):

• 600 g chicken meat (boneless thighs or breast)
• 1 small yellow onion
• 250 g fresh mushrooms (basic white champignons)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 100 g butter
• 100 g flour
• 150 ml milk or liquid cream
• leaves from a bunch of parsley
• salt and white pepper to taste

Clean the meat and cut it into bite-sized cubes. Clean and slice the mushrooms. Peel and chop the onion.

Heat the oil in a deep pan or medium pot and add the chicken cubes to it. Fry them until nicely browned all over, then also add the onion and the mushrooms. Let them cook on low-medium heat, covered, until the onions and mushrooms are softened (about 10 minutes), stirring once in a while.

Meanwhile, make the white sauce: melt the butter in a deep pan and add the flour to it gradually and continuously stirring. When the flour has all been added and looks like it might begin to get golden, gradually mix in the milk. When all the milk (or cream) was incorporated, pour the sauce over the chicken and mushrooms. Stir well and remove the pot from the heat.

Chop the parsley leaves and mix them in the pot. Season with salt and white pepper. It's done, transfer to serving plates and dig in.