Wow I'm on a roll here folks! Thanks for all your wonderful comments and encouragement on this post as well as the chatter and buzz happening on facebook. It's giving me the kick in the pants I needed to be inspired to post here again.
Around this house we are in love with Indian food, and I make a lot of it. If you check over on the far right menu bar and scroll down, you'll also see that the top two most popular posts on this blog are both Indian dishes as well. The spices and the smells have so much depth and comfort to them.
These sloppy joes are no different. Warm comforting spices with subtle heat mixed into a standard comfort food like sloppy joes. There's sweet little pops as the meat is studded with raisins, as well as added texture from the crunch of the pistachios. A delicious change from the ordinary.
Recipe from Aarti Sequeira
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Serves 4-6
Sauce:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 serrano chile, seeded and finely minced (save the other half for the turkey)
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp paprika
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 cup water
Turkey:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup shelled pistachios
1/4 cup raisins
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 large white onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1/2 serrano chile, seeds intact (don't chop it up unless you like things spicy!)
Kosher salt
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 tsp honey
1/4 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
4 to 6 hamburger buns
To make the sauce, warm the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, until it shimmers. Add the ginger, garlic and serrano pepper. Saute until the ginger and garlic brown a little. Add the garam masala and paprika and saute for 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until thickened, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, warm 1 tablespoon of oil. When shimmering, add the pistachios and raisins. Cook until the raisins swell up and the pistachios toast slightly. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Return the pan to medium heat, add 1 more tablespoons of oil, and warm until shimmering. Add the cumin seeds and allow them to sizzle for about 10 seconds, or until some of the sizzling subsides. Stir in the onions and bell pepper; saute until softened and starting to brown. Add the serrano pepper. Saute for another couple of minutes, seasoning with a little salt. Stir in the turkey, breaking up the big lumps. Cook until opaque, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, your sauce should be ready. Pour the sauce into the skillet with the turkey. Stir and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the mixture has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.
Once the turkey is cooked and the sauce has thickened a little, remove the serrano pepper. Add the honey, half-and-half, pistachios and raisins. Stir through and taste for seasoning. Before serving, garnish with fresh cilantro. Toast the buns, fill with the turkey mixture and serve.
Click here for printable version of Bombay Sloppy Joes
_____________________________________________________________________________________
THE RESULTS?
We don't eat very much ground turkey, but I really loved it in these sloppy joes. If it wasn't more than double the price of ground beef I'd definitely cook with it more often. The spices and the sauce were a nice compliment to the lean meat. I almost considered not adding the raisins since neither my husband or myself are big fans, but decided in the end to keep them in. So glad I did! Loved the little bits of sweetness they added.
To keep things mild for my kids, I only added the chili to the sauce and left it out of the meat. The sauce had a touch of heat to it, but once I added the cream it really mellowed out. Both the kids and the adults in our house devoured these!
Just for time's sake you should know these take a bit longer to make than a regular sloppy joe since you are making the sauce from scratch. I'd say between 45 minutes to an hour.
Meal Ideas:
- Bombay Sloppy Joes + Spicy Sweet Potato Wedges