Turkey with crunchy vegetables

Today is a very sad day.

A young man killed three members of his family, then attacked people in Kraków’s market square, killing six more and wounding over a dozen.

All credit to the brave police officers who stopped him.

We don’t know what drove him. Whatever his motives, I’m convinced he was mentally unwell, because I can’t imagine anyone otherwise doing such things.

If you’re struggling and any foolish ideas cross your mind, ALWAYS SEEK HELP.

And if you can’t find help, don’t know how to go about it or feel embarrassed, try to occupy yourself with something positive.

Cooking, for instance, whether it turns out well or badly, tastes wonderful or is nothing fancy.

Give your mind something to do. I’m no psychologist, and in situations like these you should seek professional help, but I know that keeping your hands and your mind occupied helps.

I was recently at EFNI, the European Forum for New Ideas in Sopot.

What interested me most was a discussion between academics chaired by Katarzyna Kasia.

On stage were Magdalena Środa, Karolina Wigura, Michał Rusinek and Marek Węcowski.

They were talking about the meaning of life.

There were references to history and philosophy, but they kept coming back to how hard it is to feel that life has meaning in the world we live in.

You can look at it in two ways. One is to set long-term goals and reach milestones along the way, the classic ones being starting a family, bringing up children, building a house or planting a tree.

Michał Rusinek, a professor who also spent years as secretary to the great Polish poet and Nobel laureate Wiesława Szymborska, said he very often feels no grand sense of purpose, yet finds meaning in the little things he does throughout the day.

When he takes a fifteen-minute or so walk in the park or on the beach, that’s when he feels it.

The meaning of life needn’t be a distant goal. You can find it in an ordinary activity simply because you enjoy it.

For me, cooking is certainly one of those things.

It gives you a sense of satisfaction every day, whatever your skill level. Lots of people keep saying they can’t cook, and it just isn’t true. Apart from elaborate pastry work, most dishes are straightforward. That’s what Prymitywna Kuchnia is here for: to show how a handful of ingredients and no special skills can produce something genuinely outstanding.

And one more thing. Cooking for other people is surely the most enjoyable of all, but remember that cooking for yourself matters too.

That’s the kind of dish this is. Simple, easy to make, yet when you eat it you can discover a whole depth of flavour. I recommend it.

Take care of yourselves.

And now for Chinese-style turkey with crunchy vegetables, rice and a fried egg.

Recipe details

• Prep time: about 15 minutes (plus time to marinate the meat if you like)
• Frying time: about 8–10 minutes
• Servings: 2 generous main courses (or 3 smaller ones)
• Heat level: punchy and spicy, but leave out the heat and it’ll be as mild as a lamb
• Calories: present and reporting for duty. Especially with extra eggs

Ingredients

• 330 g turkey breast fillet — finely diced
• 0.5 small cup jasmine rice — to cook
• 2 eggs — to fry sunny-side up (or 4, allowing 2 per serving)
• About 1/3 head of fresh broccoli — about 8 small florets
• 2 sweet yellow peppers — cut into squares about 1.5 × 1.5 cm
• 2 hot green peppers — cut into pieces about 1.5 cm long
• About 6–7 cm of fresh cucumber — a thick one, quartered lengthwise and cut into 2 cm chunks
• 3 garlic cloves — crushed and roughly broken into 7–8 pieces
• 3 shallots — cut into thick rings about 1 cm wide
• 2 red onions — small or medium, roughly chopped
• 2 small tomatoes — optional, quartered
• 1 small handful of cashews — finely chopped
• 3–4 tablespoons soy sauce — lactose-free or regular (2–3 tablespoons for the marinade, 1 for the pan)
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil — for the marinade (optional)
• 0.5 cup dry white wine — to add in two goes
• Olive oil — for frying the meat and vegetables and greasing the egg pan
• Curry powder — for the marinade (go easy)
• Sweet paprika — for the marinade
• Chilli flakes — for the marinade (optional)
• Ground black pepper — for the marinade
• Freshly ground mixed peppercorns — for the marinade
• Salt — just a little for the meat and some for the rice if wanted

Method

I put the jasmine rice in my rice cooker. I use water and a little salt, and the machine does the rest and keeps it warm.

I patted the turkey fillet dry with a paper towel and diced it finely.

I put the meat in a bowl and added sweet paprika, chilli flakes, ground black pepper, a little freshly ground mixed pepper, a token pinch of salt and curry powder. I went easy on the curry powder because it can take over. I poured in 2–3 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2 teaspoons of sesame oil. I mixed it thoroughly to coat every piece of meat and set it aside to marinate.

Then I turned to the vegetables.

I cut the shallots and red onions into chunky centimetre-thick pieces. I deseeded the sweet yellow peppers and cut them into squares about 1.5 cm across. I cut the hot green peppers into 1.5 cm pieces, seeds and all. I broke off about 8 small broccoli florets. I crushed the garlic and roughly broke it into chunky pieces with my knife. I quartered the tomatoes, cut the cucumber lengthwise into quarters and across into 2 cm chunks, and finely chopped the cashews.

I layered the vegetables in a bowl in reverse order, so the first ones going into the pan were on top.

I heated olive oil in a deep, high-sided frying pan until really hot. I added the marinated turkey and fried it over high heat for about 4–5 minutes, until it turned white and no longer looked raw.

I added the red onions and shallots to the turkey and stirred.

Next in went the hot peppers and the broccoli florets.

Keeping the heat high, I gave everything a quick stir, poured in 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and about 1/3 cup of dry white wine.

I added the sweet peppers, tomatoes, garlic and cashews, and finally the fresh cucumber.

I turned up the heat, added the rest of the wine and fried everything a little longer, stirring vigorously.

From the moment the vegetables went in, it took about 8–10 minutes. They stayed beautifully crunchy and firm, and the wine and juices made a light sauce.

In a separate, hot frying pan greased with olive oil, I fried the eggs until the whites had set and the yolks were still completely runny.

I spooned the warm jasmine rice onto plates, topped it with the hot turkey, crunchy vegetables and sauce, and finished each plate with a fried egg.

Enjoy!