Green Plantains and Ground Turkey One-pot meal
Green Plantains and Ground Turkey one-pot meal, delicious, easy, and flavorful. A complete meal to wow your family at the dinner table.
Green Plantains and Ground Turkey Meal a one-pot meal, was created to save time in the kitchen. Many meals or dishes can be prepared ahead and store either in the refrigerator or the freezer. Depending on when you plan on serving or eating it the meal can be reheated in the oven.
This dish also has all the proper nutrients you need in one meal. You can serve with it a side of steamed vegetables or salad.
What are plantains
All plantains are not the same. We have reviewed this information before in a previous post. This particular dish can be prepared with any types of plantains and not green banana unless you intend to have a sweet taste.
When preparing this dish, the amount of moisture needed for the green plantains will have to be measured by you the cook. This is where you will need to observe and taste – it all depends on your preference. Not all green plantains are the same and the amount of moisture in a plantain also differs.
Want to learn how to freeze plantains to make fried plantains, click here.
About the recipe
Ground Turkey is readily available and can be dried and lumpy if not cooked properly. For this recipe, I would recommend to pan fry the ground turkey before adding any tomato sauce or spices. The reason is that ground turkey is more manageable without herbs and some spices or sauce when cooking. Once all the lumps are broken down, which can easily be done with a large spoon or a large fork or even a potato masher, it is time to start spicing it.
Adding the right amount of herbs and spices and tomato or marinara sauce is not enough. A little acidity is always needed. It is necessary because it removes the foul odor that turkey can sometimes have.
The acidity also adds flavor and helps break down the meat even more. The acidic agents you may use are lemon juice or vinegar. For vinegar, you have an array of choices. Whatever you have on hand will suffice but be careful with the amount. Many kinds of vinegar are stronger than others. The preferred choice of acidity for this dish is fresh lemon juice.
The plantains are first boiled with herbs and spices, mashed, mixed with heavy cream and cheese. The mixture is then placed on top of the cooked ground turkey meat and baked until perfectly golden brown. The perfect one-dish meal that only requires loves and spices.
Plantains and Ground Turkey One-Pot Meal is better prepared with turkey from my experience. I have also asked my siblings and my testers, the answer is unanimous. Everyone prefers the ground turkey.
Plantains and Ground Turkey One-Pot Meal can also remind you of other Spanish dishes such as the Cuban Style Beed and Plantain Pie. This version is very different.
This dish is also similar to a Shepherd’s Pie or Pate Chinois. Both recipes inspired me to create this dish.
Green Plantains and Ground Turkey Meat Pie, Gemma’s way
Ingredients
For Plantains
- 3 - 4 regular size plantains peeled and cut 1 inch thick
- 2 scallions chopped
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper finely chopped
- 1 ½ cup water or enough water to cover plantains
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese plus more for topping
For Ground Turkey
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon lime or lemon Juice
- 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup diced tomatoes
- 1/4 Noubess Original Hot and Spicy Sauce optional
Instructions
- Peel plantains and cut in about 1 inch slices. Add plantains slices, scallions, garlic and hot pepper if using to a heavy bottom pan or pot, and fill with water until the pieces are fully covered.
- Meanwhile, heat up a large skillet on medium high heat, add olive oil and ground turkey. Break chunks of meat and stirring occasionally cook turkey until all the juice has been released and completely gone - about 7 to 10 minutes.
- Add garlic, allspice, black pepper, and sea salt and let cook for about 2 minutes. Add ketchup, lime juice, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Set aside.
- Once plantains pieces are fully cooked, with a potato masher, mash all pieces. (do not remove scallions or garlic). Add coconut oil, cream and cheese to plantain mixture and mix well.
- In a prepared baking dish, layer ground turkey meat first and cover with plantains mixture. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and dot with butter.
- Bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit preheated oven for 40 – 45 minutes. Remove and let cool for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Best served with salad.
Nutrition
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
Nutrition info is automatically generated and provided as a courtesy and as an estimate only.
Aloha, Your recipe and directions are wonderful. Im ready to try it. I have a bunch of plantains to cut down and found your page while wondering how i could use them besides just frying them.
I have a question. I can not eat cream from dairy cow, So im wondering if you think I could substitute canned coconut milk for the cream.
thank you for your wonderful recipes!
V
Aloha! Thank you for visiting us. To answer your question, I would not recommend using canned coconut cream because it contains sugar. I would use either tofu or soymilk. Check out this link for more information about substituting heavy cream: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/heavy-cream-substitutes.
Again, thanks so much for visiting us. Feel to check our more recipes.