Sloppy Bombay Joes

We love all things associated with the Food Network, including the Next Food Network Star show. The most recent series was won by Aarti Sequeira and she had my vote early on from many of the contestants. Her show is called Aarti Party and tonight's menu was from her first show. Her twist is to take her Indian background and apply it to everyday American food. We had Sloppy Bombay Joes and Massaged Kale Salad.

The sloppy Joes started with a sauce made by sauteing ginger, garlic and serrano pepper in a little oil and then adding garam masala, and paprika and stirring until fragrant. A can of tomato sauce and some water went in and simmered until thickened.

The meat mixture was started by toasting some pistachios in some oil in a large skillet along with some raisins which needed to plump up. Pistachios and raisins were removed and cumin seeds were added and allowed to sizzle. Once they were done sizzling, some chopped onions and red bell pepper were added to soften and brown. Some more serrano pepper went in along with some salt before adding ground turkey which was cooked until nicely browned. The sauce joined the ground turkey and allowed to cook and thicken a little more. Finally some honey, half-and-half and the pistachios and raisins went in.

We served this, garnished with chopped fresh cilantro over whole wheat hamburger buns. Very interesting flavors.

We had a Massaged Kale Salad along with the sloppy Joes, which was a fascinating process. A bunch of kale was thinly sliced (almost shredded) and put in a serving bowl. The juice of half a lemon went over along with a drizzle of olive oil and a little kosher salt. The kale was then massaged with my hands until the kale started to soften and wilt and it did. The very happy, massaged kale was set aside while the dressing was made. The dressing was more fresh lemon juice, honey and freshly ground black pepper, whisked together before streaming in olive oil to make a vinaigrette. The dressing was tossed with the kale along with a diced mango and toasted pumpkin seeds! A delicious and healthy salad!