Ground Turkey Couscous

February 03, 2012

Ground Turkey Couscous

This is something I originally whipped up for my best friend while visiting. She had just had her little boy and every mom knows, someone who shows up at your house and makes you food when you are a new mom is just a happy thing! I knew I had to make it quick or she would freak out that "I'm doing too much" and not let me finish. SO! Originally I had used oregano (because that's one of the only strong herbs she had in her pantry) but the mix below is also good :)

INGREDIENTS

Dried cous cous - 1.25 cups

Water - 1.25 cups

Bouillon cube - (or substitute 1.25 cups of water for chicken/veg broth)

Garbanzo beans (chick peas) - 1 can

Frozen Green Peas - about 1 cup

Garlic - 3 cloves

Ginger - about an inch knob

Dried mint - about 2 table spoons

Ground Turkey - 1 to 1.5 lbs

Salt and pepper to taste

Turmeric - .5 teaspoon

Cinnamon - .25 teaspoon

Cumin - .5 teaspoon

Vegetable oil- about .25 a cup

TOP WITH

Drizzle of olive oil

Green onions - 1 bunch sliced

Clantro - .25 bunch finely chopped

NOTE:

for left overs, keep the toppers aside to add once you have microwaved your dish. I find it hard to cook with ground turkey. It's difficult to spice. I tend to double my quantities so it tastes like something. For this reason, I would say the fresh toppers are a must in the dish.

Takes about 20-30 min to make

Serves 6-7

FUNDABBLER FACT

Fresh cilantro is used in a lot of detox programs for cleansing the liver and gall bladder! Also a great source of vitamin C!

INSTRUCTIONS

Warm a pan with your vegetable oil. Add your ground Turkey.

To it add your spices, so - cinnamon, turmeric, salt, pepper, dried parsley, and ground cumin.

Grate your garlic cloves

Grate your ginger into the mix. (HINT: if you freeze ginger, it is a bajillion times easier to grate (on a microplane or a very fine grater). The other good thing is you don't always need ginger so instead of throwing most of it away, you almost always have it at hand and don't waste)

While that is going on get started on your couscous. Always measure your couscous water ratio. That's the only trick. I also like to dilute my bouillon/chicken broth cube in the water before adding my dried couscous to the water. You can use actual broth if you prefer, but be sure to substitute that IN PLACE of your water.

Add your boiling water to the pan of browned turkey, that is still hot and quickly add in your dried couscous. Stir. By adding the water you are also deglazing your pan (if you are using a stainless steel one) pulling up all of your flavours into your meal.