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Turkey and Lima Beans

A stew of ground turkey, lima beans, onions, celery, sage, spices, and olive oil, served over rice.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Coriander and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,866 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Turkey and Lima Beans

2–4
Total1 hr

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

  1. Soak the dried beans overnight, or at least 6 hours.

  2. Drain the soaked beans, discarding the water.

  3. Cover the beans with water in a small pot, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Stir the beans periodically, and start testing for tenderness after 10 minutes.

  4. Alternatively, cook the beans in a pressure cooker at 15 PSI for 3 minutes, then set aside to depressurise.

Make the stew

  1. While the beans are cooking, add olive oil to a large pan and heat it. When the oil is hot, add the sliced onion and celery, and sauté until translucent.

  2. Add the ground cumin, coriander, chili flakes or powder, and pepper to the pan and stir in. Allow the mixture to sauté for another couple of minutes.

  3. Add the ground turkey to the pan, and turn up the heat. Stir while browning the turkey, breaking up large pieces, ensuring all the mince is browned.

  4. Tip the cooked beans, with their cooking water, into the pan and stir in the salt and sage. Simmer the mixture for 15 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve the stew over steamed rice.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

458Calories
40 gProtein
18 gFat
34 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 12 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Lima Beans1/2 cup (85g) cooked108
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Sage1 tsp ground (0.7g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Coriandernot in our table0
Seednot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Coriander + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Sage + cumintop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together50 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Celery + sagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together723 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Celery + cumintop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together439 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Cumin + olivetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,853 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Dried lima beans
Provide the bulk and creamy texture of the stew once cooked until tender.
Ground turkey
Provides protein and savoury body, browning to add depth of flavour.
Onions
Soften and sweeten as they sauté, forming the flavour base.
Olive oil
Carries the spices and aromatics and helps the onions and celery brown.
Ground coriander seed
Adds warm, citrusy aroma that blooms when sautéed in oil.
Ground cumin
Adds earthy, warm aroma that blooms when sautéed in oil.

The step that matters

Browning the turkey. Stirring and breaking up the mince until fully browned builds savoury depth through the Maillard reaction. Pale, steamed mince tastes flat and grey, and clumps cook unevenly.

Swap the lima beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, onion, celery, sage, coriander, cumin, olive):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Chickpeafits better
  3. Lentilsfits better
  4. Lima beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, onion, celery, sage, coriander, cumin, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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