Ever wondered how to adapt a recipe for your specific food intolerances or health concerns? Here is how I made dinner tonight that works for me but tastes great for everyone. In my fridge, I found ground turkey and a napa cabbage. I Googled "what to make for dinner with ground turkey and cabbage". One of the results was Cooking Classy's Egg Roll Skillet. Thanks, Cooking Classy for fantastic dinner inspiration! Here is the link to the original recipe: https://www.cookingclassy.com/egg-roll-skillet/
First I read through the recipe. Having recently been through an elimination diet, I know exactly which ingredients cause problems for me. I decided to replace soy sauce with coconut aminos, which taste similar but contain no soy. Chicken broth is currently frozen in my freezer in large blocks. Reminder to myself to freeze some in ice cube trays next time! Thawing a large block to use only 3 tablespoons seemed silly and time-consuming, so I used coconut water instead because I had a small container in my fridge. Cornstarch was replaced with arrowroot because I am sensitive to corn. Most Chinese dishes are too sweet for me, and sugar causes inflammation, so I cut the amount of sugar to 1 teaspoon instead of 1 tablespoon. I use coconut sugar because the glycemic index is lower than that of regular sugar. Honestly, the result was still too sweet for my family's taste. In the recipe below, I list a pinch of sugar. I personally don't think any is needed. Due to concern over olive oil oxidizing at high temperature, I substituted avocado oil. I used mushrooms instead of peppers and increased the amount of carrots simply because I used a julienne bladed peeler and peeled one huge carrot that yielded two cups of spirals. I'm not a huge fan of garlic, so I cut the amount in half. I didn't measure the napa cabbage, but it wasn't a huge one. The recipe suggested serving with rice. I subbed quinoa for added protein content. This recipe is very forgiving, so don't worry if you don't have the exact amounts. To speed up the preparation, use pre-shredded vegetables.
Deconstructed Egg Rolls
For the Sauce:
3 T coconut aminos
3T coconut water (or chicken or veggie broth)
1 1/2 tsp arrowroot
1 T sesame oil
1 pinch coconut sugar
2 tsp sriracha
For the Deconstructed Egg Rolls:
2 T avocado oil, divided
1 lb lean ground organic turkey
salt
1 small yellow onion sliced thinly
8 oz button or cremini mushrooms sliced (I used what was left of a 16 oz container!)
1 T peeled minced fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic minced
1 small to medium sized napa cabbage
2 C julienned or spiraled carrots
Directions:
Wisk all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Heat 1 T oil in a large skillet. I used a cast iron pan. Add half of the ginger and garlic, stir for a minute and then add the turkey and a pinch of salt. Stir and break up the turkey as it cooks. When the turkey is cooked through, remove to a bowl and cover with a plate to keep warm. Heat the remaining oil, add the onions and saute 1-2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute until they have released their liquid and most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the carrots with the remaining garlic and ginger. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the cabbage. Wisk the sauce and pour over the cabbage. The pan will be very full. Stir carefully by pushing the mixture in from the edge of the pan so your dinner doesn't end up all over the stove. Cook, stirring often until the cabbage is cooked but not mushy. This will take about 5 minutes. Serve with extra sriracha.
The result was a hit with everyone! To let me know what you think, like my Facebook page or find me on Instagram with the icons below.
