Turkey Gravy - The Christmas Specials continue

Turkey Gravy is the essence that binds the whole Turkey dinner or lunch. So you want to get it right. Remember the turkey drippings in the Turkey Delight roasting process was caught onto the roasting tray. We will use these drippings to make the gravy. The gravy is essentially a blend of the turkey drippings flavoured in the roasting process, flour, butter (optional) and additional stock (optional). The stock could be either vegetable stock (that you get during the boiling of the potatoes for the stuffing) or chicken stock or the turkey giblet stock itself that you raised during the making of the stuffing.

The gravy must be not lumpy. To make this smooth, flavourful gravy,

You need:

• 3-5 tbsp of flour
• 2 cups of liquid (water or stock)
• Turkey drippings
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 100 gms of butter (optional)
• Worcestershire sauce (optional)
• Juice of 1/2  lemon (optional)

The make:

1. Take off the drippings from the lukewarm roasting tray and transfer it to a skillet on a low flame. If the drippings are too little, add the butter and blend.
2. Mix the flour with lukewarm stock or water as desired and whisk well to ensure there are no lumps. 
3. Slowly add the flour mix to the skillet bit by bit, whisking continously to ensure there are no lumps.
4. Add more stock or water as desired if you want the gravy to be thinner.
5. You can add the worcestershire sauce if you would like your gravy to be browner.
6. Add salt and Pepper to taste. Tip: Remember the stock and/or the drippings would have enough of salt. 
7. You can also add the lemon juice for extra tang.

Serve with the Turkey Delight and Turkey Stuffing for that winning meal! Merry Christmas in advance...hope you have a falalalala... lalalala time!

Yefesoleya Wot (Ethiopian French beans Stew)

I served this stew with Injera bread (Ethiopian Pancakes). Normally pancakes or bread are usually the side to a dish but in this case it is hard to say which is the star, the stew or the pancake as they both go well together pretty much like salt and pepper to a meal.

This meal is rich in so many nutrients that there should be a separate post dedicated to describe the positives of these ingredients. The only challenging part in making this dish is chopping up so many different vegetables however I promise that it will prove worthy!

Yefesoleya Wot

To make this dish,

You need:

• 600 gms of French beans
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 leek, chopped finely
• 1 spring onion, diced finely
• 2-3 carrots, diced finely
• 1 large potato, diced into cubes
• 1 stalk celery, chopped finely
• 1 shallot, diced finely (large white onion)
• 1 large red onion, diced finely
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced finely
• 1 green pepper/ green chilli. cut finely
• 1 tsp of sun-dried tomatoes (you can also oven dry chopped tomatoes and use)
• 1 tbsp of tomato puree
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 tbsp of vegetable or sunflower oil
• 2-3 cloves of garlic crushed
• 1/4 tsp of basil leaves chopped or dried basil
• 1/2 tbsp of Berbere (Ethiopian chili powder)
• 1/2 tsp of black pepper powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 cup of boiled, cooled water

The Make:

Cooking Time: 35-40 minutes | Preparation Time: 30 minutes | Serves 6 adults

1. Cook the french beans in boiling water till tender for about 10 minutes and take out and strain over an ice cubes or check French Beans the French Way! Chop the French beans.

Strained French beans

2. In a medium sized skillet, heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil or sunflower oil and saute the leeks and onions for about a minute.

Stir in the leeks and onions

3. Next add the rest of the vegetables except the bell pepper and tomatoes with another tbsp of the oil and stir fry the vegetables for 10 minutes.

4. Add the bell pepper and saute for a minute.

5. Next add 1/2 cup water, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato puree, basil, garlic, berbere, salt and pepper.
Berbere is quite spicy so add with discretion. Mix well and allow to cook for 5 minutes.

6. Add the strained french beans and mix. Allow it to blend for 10 minutes.

7. Next add the green pepper or green chili, olive oil and mix .Allow to stand for 3 minutes.

Vegetables stewing away

8. Remove from heat and serve either hot or cold with Injera.

Yefesoleya Wot ready

Yefesoleya Wot served with Injera