Mildly Spicy Turkey With Beans is variation on Chilli Con Carne à-la-Jennie – but there are quite a few differences so I thought it should have it’s own recipe page. As will all recipes like this, the exact quantities of meat and vegetables is not critical and you can easily substitute different vegetables too. I choose not to eat beef, pork or lamb—but you could substitute the turkey for a very lean beef or chicken breast, but the latter is very bland in flavour.

INGREDIENTS FOR MILDLY SPICY TURKEY AND BEANS

Makes 4–6 portions (depending on appetite!)

• 1 heaped teaspoon of coconut butter
• 2 cloves of garlic. Peel and very finely chop or crush.
• 2 medium red onions. Peel and finely chop.
• 2 very large Portobello mushrooms. Trim stalks. Leave skin on: wipe clean with damp kitchen towel if necessary. Quarter, then chop into thick slices.
• 3 medium carrots. Peel and thickly slice.
• Half sweet red pepper (or red bell pepper). De-seed, quarter, then slice thickly.
• 1 leek. Slice into thick rings.
• 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon of sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon of crushed chillies
• 1 dessert spoon of sun-dried tomato paste (I use Zest or Gia)
• 300g Minced Turkey Breast
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes (choose additive free)
• 200g cooked kidney beans (I soak 100g dried beans the night before then cook for 40 mins). If you are short of time, 1 tin of kidney beans. Note most tinned beans include additives such as firming agents and preservatives, but some like Sainsbury’s Organic are just beans and water.)
• Freshly ground black pepper.

METHOD

Prepare all of the veg.
Take a large wok or large frying pan. Add the coconut oil and heat until the oil is hot. Add cloves and onion and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently, allowing the onions to soften. Add the mushrooms, carrots, sweet red pepper and leek to the pan. Turn down to medium heat and cook for 5-8 minutes more, stirring often until the mushrooms have softened and have begun to release their juices. Now stir in turmeric, sweet paprika, crushed chilled and sun-dried tomato paste. Turn the heat back-up to full. Add the minced turkey and cook and stir until the turkey is cooked and is spread evenly through the vegetables. Stir in the tinned tomatoes and kidney beans. Bring the dish up to the boil, then turn down to a low simmer. Allow to simmer for approximately 25-30 minutes.
Serve with a small portion of brown/red or black rice (I often cook a mixture of the different coloured rices together: when you do this, they become a purple colour) and a portion of your favourite green veg.
Vegetable substitutions that work: instead of the carrots, you could use butternut squash, parsnip or swede. You could substitute the leek with green beans or even broccoli. Feel free to experiment. This is a good recipe for ‘batch-cooking’ so you can portion-up and freeze so in days when you have little time, you can grab this out of the freezer in the morning and all you have to do is heat it up when you get home.
Eat Well—Be Well 🙂