Dateline: October 5, 2020 Spicy Sichuan Turkey and Tofu

I had taken out of the freezer a package of turkey tenderloins and was trying to figure out what to do with them when it occurred to me that I could grind the turkey and make Mapo Tofu using the turkey.

I cut up the still semi frozen turkey into smallish cubes and ground 3/4 of it twice through the fine die.  I added some of my mala powder, mixed sichuan and black pepper roasted and then ground, into the meat for the second grind.  I then ground the remain 1/4 through the fine dice just once, but added a peeled shallot into the grinder as well.

 I chopped up some fresh ginger into slivers, sliced up some garlic, and had some sichuan pepper chunks for my aromatics.  They got fried up in some canola oil.  After they were fragrant, I added the ground turkey and cooked that until it was opaque.  Next went in the pixian paste, a heaping tablespoon, along with a spoon of the Lao Gan Ma chili crisp.  This was all mushed together to coat all of the turkey with the spicy goodness before adding the mustard greens and the chicken stock.

I had some of this preserved mustard greens, which I decided to use this time in the mapo.  What I forgot to do was to rinse it.  It made the dish when coupled with the pixian paste, below, very salty.  I remedied that by adding more chicken stock and some agave syrup.  Having copious amounts of rice also helped greatly.  I also used a glug of rice vinegar to help tame the saltiness.  With rice it was quite tasty.  

I used this oxymoronic box of tofu.  Yes, the texture was that of silken tofu, but it was much firmer and it was the best choice for the job.  Good on me for picking it up somewhere!

This was my pint container of homemade chicken stock!

the finished dish and the rice.