www.sausagemaking.org

Hi,
Especially for our friends on the other side of the Atlantic, here's something that you might find useful in the days to come. We tried it last Christmas and found it delightful.

Perky Turkey Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion; halved and sliced thin
1 red pepper; seeded and sliced thin
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
3 tbsp basmati or long grain rice
1.5 litres hot turkey or chicken stock
250 g cooked turkey meat; thin strips (leg best)
410 g can chickpeas; drained and rinsed
1 bunch fresh coriander or parsley; roughly chopped (opt)

A warming supper in a bowl. Serve with crusty rolls or warm garlic bread

I Fry the onion. Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and fry for 5
minutes or so, stirring every now and then until it starts to soften.

2 Make the soup. Prepare the ingredients, note that leg turkey meat is
tastiest. Add the red pepper, ground coriander, chilli and rice to the
onion and stir round the pan for about a minute. Pour in the hot stock,
stir in the turkey and chickpeas and season well. Bring to the boil, cover
and simmer for 8-10 minutes, until the vegetables and rice are tender. Stir in the coriander or parsley and it's ready (The soup may now be cooled and frozen for up to I month.)

Variants
Sizzle some chopped bacon with the onions
Pour in a splash of dry sherry before adding the stock
Any canned pulses can replace the chickpeas
Throw in some chopped sprouts - cooked or raw, it doesn*t matter
For extra zing, squeeze in a little lemon juice at the end.

Yield: 4 servings

Ian, That Perky Turkey Soup looks amazing! I can't wait to try it. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and for sharing the recipe. I'll just bet even Zulululululu goes for this one and I'm not sure he can lay his hands on a turkey. Maybe he'll have to scrounge up an ol' duck somewhere!
Best wishes, Chuckwagon

When I made it (from some leftoever Turkey I poached to make a Mole), we were very impressed.

If you get round to trying it, do let me know how you get on with it.

Hi Ian, When you mentioned you were making a mole', I looked through my files for a "killer" recipe. As far as I know, this one is the most authentic anyone has been able to lay their hand upon. Perhaps others in the forum would enjoy it too.

“Salsa Mole Poblano Autentico”

Salsa Mole Poblano, first made in Mexico by two poor Nuns for a visiting Cardinal, is called the national food of that nation and the sauce is very popular used with enchiladas. Mole poblano de guajolote (turkey in mole poblano) has Aztec roots. Who would have imagined combining hot chilies and chocolate would produce such flavor? The spices in this recipe are traditionally ground very patiently in a “molcajete” - a Mexican mortar and pestle. My molcajete has twelve speeds and plugs into the wall. Oh, I’d like to have patience all right, but I’d like to have it right now! Don’t be put off by twenty-three components in the recipe. The final product is absolutely worth the little extra time and trouble of gathering and grinding so many ingredients. Be patient!
Replaced by baking chocolate, originally a teaspoon of cocoa powder was part of this recipe. A quarter cup of lard was replaced by the peanut oil, and the original recipe included stick cinnamon rather than powder.

3 dried ancho chilies
3 pasilla chilies
3 guajillo chiles
2 tblspns. peanut oil
1 medium yellow onion
8 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 red bell pepper (chopped)
1 green bell pepper (chopped)
¼ tspn. ground coriander
¼ tspn. ground anise
¼ tspn. ground cumin
¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup raisins
3 cups chicken broth
2 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate
1 dry wheat tortilla, torn into pieces
1 cup tomatoes (whole canned)
¾ tspn. ground cinnamon
½ tspn. ground cloves
1 tblspn. Mexican oregano
¼ cup unsalted peanuts
¼ tspn. thyme
3 black peppercorns

Using caution, stem and seed the chilies. Mince the chilies, place them in a small bowl, and cover them with a little boiling water for half an hour. If you like hot sauce, use the seeds in this recipe. Otherwise, discard them reserving a third of a cup of the hot water. Saute’ the onions and garlic in a small skillet. Use a blender to puree’ the chilies, the reserved water, bell peppers, onion and garlic, tomatoes, and the spices. Add the tortilla pieces, sesame seeds, and raisins and puree the mixture again until it is smooth. Stir in the chicken broth and simmer the sauce ten minutes before adding the chocolate. Continue stirring the mixture until the chocolate melts into the sauce. Simmer the sauce for an hour while it thickens and reduces.

Best wishes, Chuckwagon

Hi Chuckwagon.

Thanks very much for posting that. It's remarkably similar to what I do when I'm not feeling lazy. However, I'm lucky enough to have a friend whose husband goes regularly to Mexico, and when he was there last, he went to the Mercado Central for me, and picked up a couple of kilos of Mole Poblano paste!! So now all I need to do is to add that to some Turkey stock and pour it over the cooked Toikey. Actually he also brought me several others, some for use with pork and others for chicken. Oh, life is hard in paradise.