Thai at home

I'm always alert for new recipes--cooking the same thing over and over can certainly be a drag to prepare and blah to eat.

The Sunday magazine section printed a recipe for Thai Turkey Burgers and Thai-style Peanut Cabbage Salad that caught my eye, so I gave it a try. As always, I didn't have all the ingredients called for, so I improvised and what follows is the end result.

Burgers

1 lb ground turkey (the burgers were not dry like most turkey burgers, I used mixed ground turkey, not ground breast turkey)
1/2 onion, minced
1 tablespoon cilantro
2 teaspoons soy sauce
pinch of ginger
pepper and salt

Combine turkey, onions, cilantro, soy sauce and salt and pepper in a large bowl, mix well, gotta get your hands in there! Shape into 4 patties and pan fry in a few tablespoons of olive oil until thoroughly cooked--about 35 minutes over medium heat.

I toasted hamburger buns and offered sliced tomatoes (from the garden, of course) and mayo (the olive oil kind) for the burgers. Good taste, not dry, I'll make them again.

Thai-Style Peanut-Cabbage Salad

1 can, drained, whole green beans

1 small head of cabbage, sliced thin

6 sliced green onions


3/4 cup dry roasted peanuts
handful of fresh basil, torn into small pieces

Toss everything together in a large salad bowl and prepare dressing.

1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablepsoons water
4 garlic cloves, minced (or one mega-giant-elephant garlic clove!)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
pinch of ground ginger
salt and pepper
1 small hot pepper, chopped, seeds removed (I used one of our Hungarian banana peppers which turned red on the vine)

Mix ingredients and pour over salad sparingly. I didn't pour all of it over the salad, maybe half and saved the rest for other salads.


Crumble and crush about 2 cups of sweet potato chips, I used Terra, it was the only brand available to me. Divide the crushed chips between individual salad bowls, then pile on the salad. I loved it! Tasty, tangy, crunchy, overall yummy.