Use up your Christmas leftovers with these delicious Thai turkey lettuce cups from Joe Wicks’ bestselling cookbook Feel Good Food! Try swapping the turkey mince for roasted turkey.
These Thai-style lettuce cups are really fun to build and eat with kids or friends. It’s great to lay all the cooked ingredients out on the table and then all get stuck in, building your own sweet, sour, hot and crunchy treats.
SERVES 4
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 banana shallots, thinly sliced
- 500g minced turkey
- 4 fresh or frozen lime leaves (or 1-2 tbsp green Thai curry paste)
- 2 courgettes, cut into 1cm cubes
- 1 red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
- Handful of fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped handful of Thai basil (or regular basil)
- 180g jasmine rice
- 300ml water
- 2 romaine lettuce hearts, leaves separated and rinsed
- 1 carrot julienned or peeled into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
- Salt
FOR THE DRESSING
- 50ml lime juice
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp water
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the coconut oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium-low heat. Once melted, add the shallots and cook for 7-10 minutes until they start to turn golden. Add the turkey mince, breaking it up with your spoon, and cook until any liquid that it releases has cooked off. Stir in the lime leaves ( or curry paste, if using) and cook for 1 minute. Tip into a bowl.
- Wipe out the pan with kitchen paper and return it to the heat. Add the remaining coconut oil and, once melted, add the diced courgette with a pinch of salt. Cook over a medium heat until golden, then stir the turkey mince mixture back in along with the chilli. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Mix all of the dressing ingredients together and stir into the turkey mixture along with the chopped herbs.
- Wash the rice until the water runs mostly clear, then tip into a medium saucepan and add the water and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil over a high heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave the lid on for a further 7 minutes to steam.
- To serve, fill each lettuce leaf with some of the jasmine rice, the turkey mixture and julienned carrot
Love the recipe? Find more like it in Feel Good Food by Joe Wicks. Available here.
