Little Thai Turkey Loaves

Little Thai Turkey Loaves is a great, quick recipe. It's yummy and it's fast because you just pop all the flavorings (cilantro, lemongrass, garlic) into a food processor and let that do all the work for you!  It comes together quickly after you add the coconut milk, peanut sauce, sesame oil and brown rice to the ground turkey.  What I love about this recipe is that it takes advantage of my muffin tin (which has been sadly neglected lately) and puts it to good use!  By putting the turkey mixture in a muffin tin, it cuts the cooking time down to 30-35 minutes! While it bakes in the oven, you can make a vegetable side dish, too! I just whipped up a quick stir fry with zucchini, shredded carrots and bean sprouts. I threw it all in a hot wok, added chopped garlic and some teriyaki sauce and called it a day! This recipe makes about 12 muffin-sized loaves. I ate two for dinner, but could easily eat three! Oh, and the best part is the yummy peanut sauce that you pour on top!

Enjoy!

Ingredients

- 6 medium scallions, trimmed and chunked (include some green tops)

• 1/3 cup packed fresh cilantro sprigs
• 1 (5-inch) stalk lemongrass, cleaned and thickly sliced, or the zest of 1/2 medium lemon, removed in strips with a vegetable peeler
• 2 medium garlic cloves
• 1 pound ground turkey (preferably a 50 to 50 mix of light and darkmeat)
• 1/2 cup instant brown rice (right out of the box)
• 1 (14-ounce) can unsweetened low-fat coconut milk
• 3/4 cup Thai peanut sauce
• 2 teaspoons Asian toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoons raw (turbinado) sugar
• 6 fresh cilantro sprigs, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat 6 muffin-pan cups with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

Pulse the scallions, cilantro, lemongrass, and garlic 8 to 10 times in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade (or in an electric blender) until finely chopped.

Scrape into a large bowl, add the turkey, rice, 1/2 cup each of the coconut milk and peanut sauce, and the sesame oil ad mix thoroughly with your hands.

Pack the turkey mixture into the muffin-pan cups and bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a loaf registers 170 degrees F, 30 to 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, make a sauce by whisking the remaining coconut milk with the remaining peanut sauce and the sugar.

To serve, unmold the loaves onto a heated platter and garnish with a sprig of cilantro, if desired. Pass the sauce – either at room temperature or slightly warmed.

Little Thai Turkey Loaves recipe is courtesy of Foodnetwork.