Low Fat Turkey Trio Chili
recipe
Beans are not only an excellent source of non-meat,
low-fat protein, they also provide much needed dietary fiber. But you don’t
have to soak or cook dried beans for hours to get their nutritional benefits.
Canned beans are one of the great convenience foods and should be a mainstay
of any quick meal pantry.
Chickpeas (garbanzo beans), black beans and cannellini (white kidney beans)
make up the canned bean triumvirate in my pantry. I always have them around.
I usually augment this collection with a red bean such as red kidney, pink,
or pinto, and perhaps another white bean like navy or Great Northern.
What can you do with canned beans? What CAN’T you do with them? I love
bean salads for a fast, uncooked meal. Go Italian by combining cannellini
beans with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, chopped Italian parsley, and canned
tuna fish packed in olive oil (or water if you’re watching calories).
Or try the Tex-Mex route with black beans, corn, mild green chilies, lime
juice, olive oil, and cilantro. Beans also go well with hearty greens like
radicchio or curly endive in more elaborate salads, and in cooked dishes
with kale or mustard greens. A quick cassoulet (yes, cassoulet!) can be had
in 15 minutes by cooking onions and garlic with Canadian bacon, and kielbasa,
then adding tomato sauce, chicken stock, white beans, and thyme.
The quality of canned beans varies among brands, especially for cannellini
beans, which can be mushy. Chickpeas are generally good, though on occasion
they can be a bit too firm. So experiment with different brands to find the
ones you like. Since canned beans contain quite a bit of sodium, it’s
important to rinse them before putting them in any dish. Rinsing also removes
some surface starch and remnants of any canned taste.
Chili is one of the best ways to use canned beans. Turkey instead of beef
or pork helps cut down the fat. But ground turkey breast meat can be dry.
So I add turkey bacon and turkey kielbasa to make the dish taste richer.
Turkey Trio Chili
1 cup basmati rice
1 teaspoon salt plus additional to taste
3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion, about 8 ounces
1 rib celery
1 1/2 tablespoons canola, olive or vegetable oil
1 pound ground turkey breast meat
4 ounces turkey bacon
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
Two 14.5-ounce cans kidney beans
Two 14.5-ounce cans stewed tomatoes
1 cup fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken stock
4 ounces turkey kielbasa
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste
1/4 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 cup nonfat sour cream or yogurt
1)While the hot-water tap runs, put the rice in a 2-quart saucepan. Add 2
cups hot tap water and 1 teaspoon salt. Cover and bring to a boil over high
heat, then reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Turn the heat
off and keep covered until ready to serve. (Or put the rice, 2 cups of hot
tap water, and 1 teaspoon salt in a 2-quart microwave-safe container. Cover
and microwave on high power for 10 minutes. Keep covered until ready to serve.)
2) Meanwhile, put a 12-inch sauté pan or Dutch oven over medium heat.
Peel the garlic. Drop the garlic down the chute of a food processor with
the motor running to finely chop. Stop the motor, then peel and quarter the
onion. Trim the celery and cut into 4 roughly equal pieces. Add both to the
food processor. Pulse just until chopped. (Or chop by hand.) Increase the
heat under the pan to high. Add the oil. Scrape the contents of the food
processor into the pan with a rubber spatula and stir.
3) Coarsely chop the bacon. Add the bacon and ground turkey to the
pan. Cook, breaking up any large clumps of meat with a wooden spoon. Add
the cumin and chili powder, stir well and cook for 2 minutes.
4) Meanwhile, open the cans of beans into a colander and rinse briefly.
Put the stewed tomatoes into the food processor and pulse until you have
a slightly chunky puree. Add the beans, tomatoes, and chicken stock to
the pan. Stir, cover and bring to a boil. Quarter the kielbasa lengthwise.
Then cut crosswise into pieces 3/8 to 1/2-inch wide. Add to the pan with
salt, black pepper and cayenne to taste. Stir well and cook, uncovered,
for 4 minutes.
5) Meanwhile, chop the cilantro leaves. Put the rice in the center of a
soup plate and spoon the chili over the rice. Top with sour cream or yogurt
and sprinkle with cilantro.
Serves 4
Per serving: 712 calories, 59 grams protein, 87 grams carbohydrate, 16
grams fat, 3 grams saturated fat, 109 mg cholesterol, 2188 mg sodium.