Turkey in Asian Flavored Broth

The groceries we go through at our house lately is a bit unbelievable as both of my adult kids and my niece are currently parking here. Two of the ‘kids’ take lunches to work and Steve has been pretty great about taking one as well. This means we’ve gone from a family that struggled to eat up the leftovers to one that is using up the leftovers and then some.

This has me bargain hunting like mad, especially for meats, which are expensive. I’ve begun scouring the isles at my supermarket for the bright 25 -30% off labels that indicate a product that is fine but should be used up quickly. 

Recently I found a couple of packages of skinned, boneless turkey breasts that offered enough protein for all of us at about $12 total. Score!

The breast meat is never my favourite part of a turkey as I find it is generally kinda dry and flavourless, but it is fine for soups and other saucy dishes so that was my loose plan.

On my never-ending hunt for clean and paleo inspired recipes I have been going through my cookbooks, and also the many volumes of magazines that I have hanging around the house. An Asian inspired chicken recipe cut from an old Eating Well magazine offered a jumping off point.

Asian food was once touted as the go to food for healthy eating as it tends to contain lots of veggies. Unfortunately it also tends to contain things that I am trying not to eat like soy, peanuts, MSG and sugar. (I have a fabulous Asian cookbook but was astounded to discover that out of the whole book only about 10 recipes did not contain sugar!)

This particular recipe was very simple though and had no offensive ingredients except for a bit of sherry, which I consider to be optional. There is some debate over how much of the alcohol actually burns off when cooking, but even if the alcohol content was not an issue, the sugar in said alcohol is a consideration for those eating low carb.

Ginger and garlic rank way high in Steve’s list of favourite flavours so I upped the ante a bit with these. I also used a combination of Swiss chard and kale as I had both in the freezer from the fall garden. I could see using spinach or a fresh Asian green like yu choy to give it an even more asian flair.

Steve added more chili sauce but I found the heat to be just right.

Turkey in Asian Flavoured Broth

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 6

Author: Mia Staysko

A quick and simple, easy to throw together dish, suitable for lunch or for a light dinner. More greens and you've got a stew, less and it is more like a soup.

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Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• 2 lb turkey breasts skinned and boneless, cut into 1" cubes
• 2 inch piece of fresh ginger peeled and julienned
• 3 cloves garlic sliced thinly
• 1/4 cup dry sherry optional
• 4 C chicken broth preferably homemade
• 2 Tbsp coconut aminos or gluten free tamari
• 1 tsp sriracha or other red chile sauce or more to taste
• 6 C roughly chopped fresh swiss chard or kale frozen is fine too

Instructions

1. Heat frying pan over med-high heat, add coconut oil to coat pan
2. Add turkey pieces in batches, browning on all sides and cooking through
3. Remove meat from pan and cover lightly with foil while finishing subsequent batches
4. Add the garlic and ginger and sauté until fragrant, about 20 seconds
5. Deglaze the pan by adding the sherry or the chicken broth. Stir to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. If deglazing with sherry, add chicken broth once thickened slightly
6. Bring broth to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes
7. Add coconut aminos or tamari and sriracha or chile sauce
8. Add greens and cook until tender, about 3 minutes
9. Add cooked turkey back to the pot and include any reserved juices
10. Cook just until thoroughly heated 1- 2 minutes

Recipe Notes

Chicken could definitely be substituted for turkey in this recipe.

Adapted from Eating Well Magazine