Extra Delicious Holiday Turkey Stuffing With 6 Different Additions
Cooking chicken or turkey stuffing has become one of my favorite activities while preparing my Christmas meals. I tried several times to invent recipes, but I couldn’t come up with anything that tasted as good as this. Your guests will not leave the table, be sure of that, if you cook it for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
My Christmas turkey stuffing is a bit different from the traditional bread turkey stuffing. I always make it with rice, vegetables, fruits and nuts. Any rice I have would make a perfect bird stuffing. I also cook it in different styles with duck and other chicken recipes; depending on how I cook chicken and which taste goes better with it.
Today I’m publishing this recipe with additional 6 ingredients that you can try before the holiday. Using them may result in 6 new turkey stuffing styles for an amazing holiday feast.
The new additions here will be cheddar or mozzarella cheese, raisins, olives, dried prunes, dried apricots and … coconut cream! And you can’t imagine how coconut gives chicken and vegetables a delicious taste. You simply stir it into the rice-milk mixture and let it cook. Or you may add it to the vegetables, let them cook and then toss them with rice, nuts and other additions.
I will post later how to make chicken with coconut and pineapples. You gonna love this Thai recipe.
Ingredients for my turkey stuffing Recipe:
– turkey/chicken livers and gizzards (half the amount of rice).
– chopped onions (and minced garlic if you like it).
– 1 cup potato cubes.
– 1 cup peas and carrots.
– rice ( about 500 gm for a small bird).
– butter.
– soy or sunflower oil.
– milk (double the amount of rice).
– raisins
– olives ‘better be black’
– green/yellow apples
– nuts (walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts)
– green onions/scallion
– pine nuts
– pomegranate vinegar/molasses
– bread loaf
– cheddar cheese.
– parsley
Turkey stuffing spices:
– freshly ground ( pepper, cloves, cinnamon, juniper or cubeb berries, cardamom)
– thyme
– rosemary
– curry
Quantities may not be clear as I don’t usually think of quantities. I may increase whatever is needed and I like little rice with more vegetables, nuts, livers and gizzards.
Preparing spices:
Always make your basic spices here pepper and Chinese cubeb. If you use much of that, it won’t spoil the recipe. So, take a small, equal amount of each of the spices above and ground them just before cooking. Thyme and rosemary are not recommended, but as some people may like them with chicken, it is nice to add a dash of thyme to the rice.
Toasting the bread:
– Fresh bread is never recommended for all turkey stuffing types. So, better take a day old loaf.
My favorite choice is the thin white bread (looks like tortilla). It is wonderful for quick toasting and similar to the crunchy salad bread.
– Cut the flat bread into equal square pieces – with a knife – or cut the loaf into slices then cubes. In a wide sauce pan, melt enough amount of butter on low heat and add the bread. Turn with a wooden spatula until all are covered with butter; then on a wide metal tray spread them and put in the oven on medium heat until they take dark golden color.
Leave the bread in the air to cool “don’t cover”.
Cooking the rice:
After washing the rice, in a medium pan, put some soy oil on high heat and add the rice. For a couple minutes keep turning until you see it begins to dry, then fry on medium heat for a few minutes until the rice is fully dried and no longer sticking. At the end, add small, equal amounts of freshly ground clove, dried juniper berries or chinese cubeb, cardamom; then fry for a minute until the aromas appear. Add fresh thyme at the end and lower the heat.
Add chicken stock cube and equal amounts of water and milk. You may increase the water a little bit to prevent the rice from sticking because only milk will make it so sticky and it won’t properly cook. Add a dash of salt and proper amount of curry. You can add some coconut cream in this step.
Cook on medium heat until it soaks up the wet, then low heat until fully cooked.
Preparing the stuffing mix:
– In a wide pan add some soy oil then chopped onions and stir for 2 minutes on high heat. ‘onions quantity should be at least quarter the amount of giblets.
Add gizzards and livers ‘cut into halves’ . Make sure to spread that mix above the onions to allow them to cook evenly.
Don’t stir at this stage, and keep it on high heat.
– Add the freshly ground spices I mentioned above, and don’t stir or add any salt.
Keep the mix frying for a few minutes until you hear the sound of onions frying and see that there no moisture left in the pan. Only then start turning the mix and make sure that giblets pieces received enough frying and the onions start to take brownish color.
– Add the peas and carrots then add potato cubes ‘ make sure they are not too small and not too large, and they too should be quarter the giblets quantity’. Keep turning on high heat then add the raisins and pine nuts.
– After a good turn, add some water and proper amount of salt and allow to boil on high heat for a few minutes, then add one table spoon of pomegranate vinegar, and cook on low heat with slight stirring from time to time.
– Prepare apple cubes and olive slices, and near the end of cooking add the apple and carefully turn until well mixed. Add the crunchy bread, turn as well, then cook on low heat on your stove or in the oven until the apples are cooked, and make sure to keep the bread a bit crunchy.
While cooking cut the parsley and green parts of green onions, and toast the nuts in some butter and little sprinkle of sugar, if you like..
After all are cooked, get a wide serving platter, spread a layer or rice , add a rich layer of stuffing mix, then spread the olives, parsley and tiny green onion pieces on top. Slowly turn with a spoon on different positions until you get all mixed together and butter melted. Decorate the top with grated cheddar cheese and mixed nuts.