A great way to use your Christmas leftovers – make this crowd pleasing leftover turkey Korma curry and serve with golden rice.
After all the Christmas feasting is done, I find myself unwilling / unable to cook. I simply want to laze about, eat any chocolates or dessert not hoovered up by the kids and watch old musicals on TV – after all it’s not Christmas until there’s a Sound of Music sing-a-long.
But there’s a silver lining – there’s usually plenty of leftovers to keep us fed for a few days with minimum effort. If you, like us, happen to find yourself with lots of turkey leftover this super-easy mild curry is an excellent way to use it up.
My favourite way to serve this mild curry is with aromatic golden rice – basmatti cooked with a little turmeric, cinnamon and cardamom which is delicious enough to simply eat on its own!
My kids are, sadly, still very suspicious of any food they deem as ‘exotic’ (i.e. any food they don’t reguarly eat) but this recipes somehow pleases even them which makes it a real winner in my book!
Have you made my leftover turkey curry?
Post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #supergoldenbakes. I can’t wait to see your take on it!
LOVE CURRIES?
- Vegan Instant Pot curry – ready in 10 minutes!
- Pressure Cooker Lamb Dhansak curry
- Slow Cooker Butter Chicken
- Pressure Cooker lamb and butternut squash korma
- Slow Cooker Lamb Shank Rogan Josh
Leftover Turkey Korma
Ingredients
For the curry
- 2 tbsp rapeseed canola oil
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 large yellow onion peeled and finely diced
- 2 large garlic cloves peeled and finely diced
- 5 cm 2in fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 tbsp ground almonds
- 1-2 tbsp runny honey or to taste, omit if preferred
- 1 tbsp garam masala mild curry powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp coriander seeds crushed in pestle and mortar
- 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 x 400g 14oz can coconut milk
- 250 ml | 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 tsp cornflour constarch diluted in 1 tbsp cold water
- 450 g | 1lb leftover roast turkey or chicken cubed
- 2 large handfuls baby spinach stalks removed
- pinch crushed chilli flakes
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- fresh parsley or coriander to garnish
For the Golden RIce
- 1 tbsp rapeseed canola oil
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 shallot peeled
- 4 cardamom pods
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 200 g | 1 cup basmatti rice
- 1 cup hot vegetable stock
Instructions
- Make the rice. Heat the oil and butter in a medium saucepan and add the rice, shallot and all the spices. Stir over medium heat to coat the rice in the butter, oil and spices.
- Add the hot stock and stir. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is al dente, adding more hot water if needed. Take off the heat and cover.
- Remove the cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaf and fluff the rice before serving.
- Make the curry. Heat the oil and butter in a large casserole. Add the onion and cook over medium heat for about 7 minutes or until onion has softened.
- Stir in the garlic, spices and ginger. Add salt and pepper, stir and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Add the coconut milk, stock and honey and bring to a simmer.
- Stir in the diluted cornflour and ground almonds. Add the turkey and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.
- Stir in the spinach and cook only for a minute or two until it wilts.
- Serve over the golden rice, garnished with fresh coriander or parsley and a sprinkling of chilli flakes.
Notes
Nutritional Info
Sarah E Stringer says
Absolutely loved this recipe! Followed all the instructions and it was perfect for our turkey leftovers! My 13 year old stepson loved it which is always a bonus! The rice was very tasty too but I had to use a quarter of an onion rather than the shallot!
Deb Abraham says
I made this after Thanksgiving and it was good and not time consuming to make – I was a bit tired of cooking. We had it with chapatti instead of rice. Thanks
Lucy Parissi says
Glad you enjoyed it ❤️
Aimee says
Made as written except only about 1 teaspoon honey because I ran out, served with jasmine rice. Very flavorful, not at all spicy. A good, different way to repurpose Thanksgiving leftovers.
Dorothy Seal says
Will this freeze
Lucy Parissi says
Hi Dorothy – I think I answered this on FB but in my opinion not good idea to freeze with leftover turkey in it.
Chantelle says
Found this while looking for a curry recipe with coconut milk. It’s absolutely amazing! My whole family loved it! Loads of flavour and not to spicy. It’s a keeper in my books.
Lucy Parissi says
Thanks for your comment! Same with us – my fussy kids eat it happily
Rachel says
I used the amount of honey in the recipe – disaster, I am sure she means teaspoons not tablespoons! I got a sweet goo.. and no, the kids would not like it! The first attempt therefore ended up in rubbish bin – a real waste of other good quality ingredients.
My advice – cut the honey as above and leave out the almonds too (they are much too gritty)
Use fresh spices and the rest of the recipe will be delicious.
Lucy Parissi says
Sorry to hear Rachel – honey can be quite variable in taste and some are much sweeter than others. I have amended the recipe to reflect that and I appreciate your feedback.
Andrea says
Hi, i made the recipe to exactly the quantities and method and I initially forgot the honey, when i tasted it, it wasn’t sweet enough as a Korma should be, so i added 1 1/2 tbsp and it was perfect , no sweet sticky messes for me 😊
I find the almonds quite nice and authentic, thank you for this recipe.
Lucy Parissi says
Lovely to hear thanks for the comment Andrea!