Post 153: Turkey Stew and Feel-murgh methi

Sometihng of a mamouth posting this. But all becomes apparent, I did some big-pot cooking with my leftovers and this is all I've been eating since.

After New Year's days re-working of a christmas dinner, I had a a sizeable amount of Turkey, some roasted veggies and a tonne of mash still to get through. This first thing to do was to divide the Turkey into white meat for sandwiches, dark meat and bones. There seemed to be tonnes of the stuff!


The second thing to do was, to make a Turkey butty. After many years of research I've established my turkey butty to comprise: white bread, a layer of stuffing, a layer of turkey, a dash of salt and then a layer of mayo on the top slice. Ideally the stuffing-turkey-mayo layers should be in a ratio of about 1-2-1. Which is far too much mayo to be heathly; but just enough to be right.

And after that I was ready to begin the propr cooking. Starting with making stock. I covered the bones with water, and then added:
- 1 big onion quartered (with the skin on; it's supposed to add colour)
- The leftover roasted carrots and parsnips
- Flavourings: 4 cloves of garlic, a couple of bay leaves a little sage and parsley

This I boiled for a couple of hours. I then strained the lumps out and was left with  About 3 pints of stock with which to start both my stew and curry.

Here's the stew, looking a little dark after the addition of a bit of Henderson's relish.

For this, I had a load of suitable vegetables left over so it was just a case of grabbing an armful.
- I started as with nearly all my recipes, with frying a couple of fine chopped onions and added these to the stock. For a bit of extra flavour, I added a few extra herbs: parsley and sage
- I then peeled, chopped and added: 4 medium potatoes, 2 parsnips, 3 largish carrots, 2 swedes
- Just because I didn't want my stew altogether purple, I seperately boiled a big red cabbage, so that most of the colour came out, then drained that and added it
- After I'd given the veggies an hour to simmer away and soften, I then added half the mash and gave it stir until the lumps had gone. Adding the mash made it all thick as intended; when cold it's almost solid - brilliant! Finally, I added the turkey and let it slowly simmer some more.

For the curry, again it started out with frying onions but this time with some curry spices: garlic, curry powder, chillies and ground coriander. These were then added to the stock. I'd not really thought this through, I looked around and the veg box was bare of curry ingredients.

I added a couple of potatoes, but not too many as I knew I had more mash to use. Then a raid on the fridge found a couple of peppers and near full carton of passta. So, in they went. Between the curry spices and the passata it then started to look a fairly reasonable curry colour. I then thickened it with the last of the mash and as previously gave it a good stir to get the lumps out. I then tasted and established the dried chillies I used are super hot. But it was all a bit boring, so a further scout around the kitchen found a packet of fenugreek - in it went! A hundred grams of this goes an awful long way. It then looked like a proper dirty methi curry, which is one of my favourites.

I think Feel-murgh is the right translation for Turkey; I wouldn't bet on it though.

From one turkey, I've ended up with:
- 2x roast dinner
- 6x turkey sandwich lunches
- 8x stew portions
- 6x turkey stew

I think I've done the bird justice! It may though be a little while before I buy another Turkey.