Turkey curry

Turkey curry
  • High protein
  • Low phosphate
  • Low potassium
  • Low salt
  • Christmas
  • Main meal
  • 1 hour or less
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A filling, mildly spicy dish with lots of flavour that is high in protein, low in potassium, phosphate and salt. A perfect dish if you are receiving dialysis.

Chef

Chef Paul Ripley
Paul Ripley

Kidney Kitchen Chef

This is a quick and tasty curry using up cooked leftover turkey or chicken. With a mild and creamy coconut sauce and served with perfectly cooked rice.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
25g unsalted butter
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
2.5cm fresh ginger
1 red chilli
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 butternut squash (approx. 300g)
570ml low salt chicken or turkey stock
185ml coconut milk
Handful of spinach (approx. 50g)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
400g cooked turkey
1 tablespoon fresh coriander leaves (optional)

Rice

240g basmati rice
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon of whole cloves
1 teaspoon cardamom pods

Method

  1. Step 1

    Put the rice into a bowl, fill with cold water and rinse well, tipping out the cloudy water. Repeat 3-4 times. Cover with water and leave to soak for up to 30 minutes then sieve and tip into a saucepan. Add 600ml fresh cold water, and the spices. Bring to the boil and cover immediately with a tight-fitting lid. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes – resist the temptation to lift off the lid. After 10 minutes, turn off the heat, keep the lid on and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Run a fork through the rice to separate the grains, remove the spices.

  2. Step 2

    Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables by peeling, deseeding and cubing the squash. Finely chop the garlic, onion and chilli (removing seeds). Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan. Add the onions and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then, add the garlic, chilli, curry powder and grate in the ginger. Cook over a medium heat until the onion is soft, being careful not to burn the curry powder.

  3. Step 3

    Add the squash and cook until it begins to stick to the bottom of the pan slightly. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes, until the butternut squash is tender.

  4. Step 4

    Stir in the coconut milk and lemon juice. Add the cooked turkey, fold in and simmer to heat through and then add the spinach and heat until wilted. Serve with the cooked rice and sprinkle over roughly chopped coriander leaves.

Food facts

The rice is the main source of carbohydrate in this main meal and the carbohydrate value has been provided for those who have been trained in insulin adjustment.

Although this dish contains some high potassium ingredients, such as the butternut squash, coconut milk and spinach, the amounts used in the recipe have been kept minimal to ensure when used in these quantities that the meal overall is low in potassium.

This dish is also low in phosphate, however, still contains phosphate due to the turkey. If you have been prescribed a phosphate binder, ensure you take them with this dish.

This dish is high in protein which makes it perfect for those receiving dialysis. If you have been advised to follow a low protein diet, then you could reduce the amount of turkey used.

Use a gluten-free stock cube.

Use low-salt vegetable stock and replace the turkey with meat substitute pieces or a 400g drained tin of chickpeas.

For a healthier option, you could use a reduced fat coconut milk.

For a cheaper option, use chilli flakes to replace the fresh chilli and frozen coriander in place of fresh.

Once cooked, allow to cool and store, in the fridge, in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Do not store or re-heat the rice.

You could also use left over chicken from a roast dinner or buy precooked chicken or turkey to make this recipe.

To release the cardamom flavour from the pods, lightly crush them with the back of a spoon.