TRADITIONAL CHIAYI DISH: RICE WITH TURKEY
INSTRUCTIONS
The street food here is the best way to get to know the typical gastronomy and its people and it is here on the street where we can taste more than 50 typical recipes, starting with Grace who prepares the most famous fish head broth, another dish that everyone loves is the rice with turkey, the beef noodle soup, an interesting oyster omelet and the tofu pudding that is really delicious!!!
A good bowl of arroz con pollo starts with good white rice. Stretchy white rice is usually used for Taiwanese chicken rice. The rice must be well cooked: if it is too soft, it will not be able to absorb the sauce. Rinse the rice very well and drain all the water with a strainer before cooking. The best and easiest way is to cook the rice in the rice cooker or Instant Pot, using a 1:1 ratio of water to rice. Although it seems like turkey is the main ingredient in this dish, the fried shallot is really what sets it off. The fried shallot contributes to the aroma, and the sweetness, as well as adding a bit of crunch to this dish. The sauce and fat are what makes this dish so amazing. We use the broth from cooking the turkey breast as the base of the sauce. Including the bones makes the broth more flavorful. The skin is also important, as we want to get the fat out of the turkey and use it to enhance the flavor of this dish. And here are the ingredients and step by step:
INGREDIENTS:
1 turkey breast with skin and bone
½ teaspoon of salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper powder
1 large shallot, or two smaller ones, thinly sliced
vegetable oil
water to cook turkey
1 teaspoon of rice cooking wine
1 chive, cut in half
3 slices of ginger
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ teaspoon sugar
3-4 servings of warm short-grain white rice
Remove the skin from the turkey, dry it and store the skin in a container in the refrigerator.
Marinate the turkey breast with salt and white pepper powder and store in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight.
To cook the turkey, in a pot, we add sliced ginger, chives, rice wine, and enough water to cover the turkey breast (about half the pot) before bringing the water to a boil.
Add the turkey breast, cover the pot and lower the heat. Simmer turkey for 25 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165°F. Place the turkey on a plate to cool slightly before shredding.
Meanwhile, put a small saucepan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, place the turkey skin in the pan and fry it over medium to medium-low heat. Cook until the skin turns golden and crispy. Turn off the heat, remove the skin from the turkey and leave the oil in the pan
Add the thinly sliced shallot to the pan with enough vegetable oil to cover the shallot. Fry the shallot over medium to medium-low heat, stirring occasionally to cook evenly.
Once most of it turns yellow, drain the oil through a mesh strainer into a bowl (we’ll need it later) and place the shallot in a thin layer on a paper towel. Don’t wash the pan yet, we’ll need it later to make the sauce.
Add 3⁄4 cups turkey broth, soy sauce, and sugar to the saucepan. We bring it to a boil and then add a small part of the fried shallot that we just made and reserve the sauce.
Add the shredded turkey breast on top of a bowl of hot white rice, and pour 2 tablespoons of sauce and 1-2 teaspoons of shallot oil over the turkey before topping with fried shallots. Give the rice a little stir before eating, add more sauce if needed, and serve with a few slices of cucumber and radish for freshness.
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Thanks for traveling with me, until next week!!
