Recipe corner: Bang Bang Turkey

The period between Christmas and New Year never really feels like real time.  I have never, since entering adulthood, worked those few days - partly because my birthday falls on the 28^th and I have always insisted that I can’t work on my birthday.  I know that millions do, but there have to be some advantages to having a birthday at such a time and one of them is that I always spend it at home.

Food between Christmas and New Year is also a strange thing.  You’ve had one big celebration and are probably gearing up for another.  You don’t really want to cook much (because that would get in the way of all the lying around).  You probably have masses of leftovers lurking in the fridge but all you really want to do is munch your way through your selection box.  Normal rules don’t apply and you find yourself eating cheese for breakfast and cracking open a bottle at three in the afternoon (or is that just me?)

Anyway, turkey curry is a must for us during this period.  We don’t tend to have turkey for Christmas Day itself, so buy a crown in specially and get the curry made in advance so the flavours have time to develop.  I’ve blogged D’s special recipe here.

And this year, he found another turkey leftovers dish: “Bang Bang Turkey” which is absolutely perfect for the season.  It contains some fresh, raw veg for a bit of crunch and a zingy peanut sauce which wakes your sluggish taste buds up.  I think it should become a regular part of our festive routine, especially since the sauce can be made in advance and frozen (I have stashed some away already in my deep freeze so it can make a re-appearance on the menu later this year.)  If you can bear to do a bit of chopping and steaming of rice then have a go at this one.  I imagine it would also work well with chicken.  The list of ingredients is absolutely massive I know, but the method is easy, and most of these are things that you are likely to have in your store cupboard anyway.  It is honestly not an arduous task to assemble.

Photo credit: bbc.co.uk

 

Notes

The original recipe is a Hairy Bikers one, and can be found here.

We served this on top of steamed basmati rice to make it a more rounded meal. 

I found that the quantities listed for the sauce would dress six lots of salad generously.  I’ve given the amounts per the original recipe below but do note that you will have leftovers which can be bagged up and frozen. 

Ingredients

For the turkey:

1 tbsp soy sauce

Juice of half a lime

½ tsp of palm sugar (or soft brown sugar)

½ tsp of chilli powder

½ tsp Chinese Five Spice

125g cooked turkey, roughly chopped

For the peanut sauce:

Tbsp vegetable oil

2 shallots, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

5cm piece fresh ginger, grated

2 red chillies, seeds removed and chopped

200ml chicken stock

150ml coconut milk

75g crunchy peanut butter

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar (you can substitute cider vinegar for this if that’s what you have in)

Tsp palm sugar (or soft brown sugar)

Tbsp fish sauce

Juice of half a lime

For the salad (suggestion only – select veg to suit):

Carrot, reduced to strips with a potato peeler

Red pepper, sliced into thin strips

2 spring onions, sliced

5 radishes, thinly sliced

To serve and garnish:

 

100g basmati rice, steamed

Red chilli, sliced

Fresh coriander and mint, roughly shredded

Roasted, unsalted peanuts

Serves 2, with leftover sauce

Whisk together the ingredients for the turkey marinade then add the turkey and combine well.  Cover, and set aside (I did this several hours in advance to no detrimental effect).

Make the sauce: gently heat the oil in a pan and then add the shallots, cover, and cook over a low heat until translucent (probably about 4-5 mins).  Add the garlic, ginger and chillies and continue to cook for a couple of minutes or until they have lost their “raw” smell (probably another 2-3 mins).  Now add all the other sauce ingredients, bring to a simmer and reduce by about half.  Set aside to cool.

To serve – add a couple of tablespoons of the cooled peanut sauce to the turkey and mix well. 

In a deep bowl, start with the rice, then the turkey and finally, divide the prepared salad veg.  Drizzle with some of the remaining sauce.  Garnish with chilli, herbs and peanuts as desired.