Love Tyler Florence’s super-fast roast turkey (the recipe is here), but aren’t in the mood for the traditional roast? Here are two ways to inject a little regional flavour.
Turkey is not a meat used much in the Middle East or Indian cuisine. Though celebrity chefs today have made an effort to incorporate turkey, it isn’t something you’d find on a regular restaurant menu from these cuisines.
“Turkey is definitely a part of festive celebrations in Lebanon, though it’s difficult to find it ordinarily at a restaurant,” says Chef Greg Malouf, executive chef at the just two-month-old Cle Dubai in Dubai International Financial Centre. “When I was younger, I remember my grandmother and mother making turkey stuffed with rice or noodles and nuts or meat, and that’s what we have incorporated in our Christmas menu.”
Other ways of incorporating Middle Eastern flavours to your roast would be to stuff the turkey under the skin with preserved lemon butter or zaatar butter or sumac butter, advised Malouf. Here’s his recipe, with a rice and barberry stuffing.
“Our turkey has a lot of cloves, garlic, ginger, yes, but with a French touch by way of the cream cheese, which mellows the Indian flavours, bringing forth the taste of the meat and not giving the diner the feel of heavy Indian food, says Amin Kukureja. “The food served at La Porte Des Indes is largely influenced by the spices used, which are mainly from those used in the French part of India — the Pondicherry region.”
This is an easier recipe to do in comparison to the traditional roast turkey as you “do not have to worry about the whole bird not fitting in the oven”, Vishal Rane, head chef at La Porte Des Indes, explained. “This recipe calls for just the turkey breast which is sliced and steeped in a creamy herb and spiced marinade, if you are adventurous with the spice level, don’t be afraid to increase the chillies. Also if you do not have the tandoor oven, this can be easily done on a grill or in the conventional oven.”
Served with plum chutney and cumin potatoes — a very Indian dish — on the side, the tandoori malai turkey that Rane created for tabloid! is now going to be included on the restaurant’s Christmas menu, should you decide to give yourself a kitchen holiday on that holiday.
