Thai Basil Ground Turkey with Steamed Edamame
Toddler tip: Skip any chili. She'll love it over jasmine rice with a crispy fried egg on top, and edamame pods are fun to squeeze.
Low-carb fork: Serve over cauliflower rice or in butter-lettuce cups. Turkey is already lean — go easy on the brown sugar in the sauce.
Ingredients
Stir-Fry
- 1.25 lbsground turkey
- 2 tbspneutral oil
- 4 clovesgarlic, minced
- 1shallot (or ½ small onion), sliced
- ½ lbgreen beans, trimmed (or 1 red bell pepper, sliced)
- 1 large handfulThai or regular basil leaves
- 3eggs (optional, for topping)
Sauce (no fish sauce — oyster sauce is shellfish-safe)
- 3 tbspsoy sauce
- 1½ tbspoyster sauce
- 2 tbspwater
- 1 tbspbrown sugar
- ¼ tspwhite pepper
For Serving
- 1 cupjasmine rice
Steamed Edamame
- 1 bag (12 oz)frozen edamame in pods
- to tasteflaky sea salt
Instructions
1Start the jasmine rice first (1 cup rice : 1½ cups water — rice cooker, or simmer covered ~15 min and rest).
2Mix the sauce in a small bowl: soy sauce, oyster sauce, water, brown sugar, and white pepper. Stir until the sugar dissolves. (We skip fish sauce entirely for the allergy and lean on soy + oyster sauce for the umami.)
3While the rice cooks, steam the edamame: put the frozen pods in a bowl with a splash of water, cover, and microwave 4–5 min until hot. Drain and toss with flaky salt; set aside.
4Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat with the oil. Add the garlic and shallot and stir 30 sec, then add the ground turkey and press it into one layer. Let it sit undisturbed ~1 min to catch some color before you break it up, then stir-fry until cooked through and browned, ~6–7 min — don't stir constantly; let the moisture cook off so it browns instead of steams.
5Add the green beans (or bell pepper) and stir-fry 2 min, then pour in the sauce and toss 1–2 min until glossy and the liquid mostly reduces.
6Kill the heat and fold in the big handful of basil so it just wilts from the residual heat — adding it at the end keeps it fragrant. Finish with a small squeeze of lime (or lemon) to brighten it — without fish sauce, that hit of acid keeps it from tasting flat.
7Optional: fry an egg per person in a little hot oil with crispy edges. Serve the turkey over jasmine rice, egg on top, with the edamame alongside.