Asian Turkey Skewers...With Apricot BBQ Sauce

Asian Turkey Skewers...With Apricot BBQ Sauce. I came across this recipe while browsing through a Cuisine-at-Home magazine. I was inspired to make these little bites, they looked rather appealing. Their patties were made out of chicken. But since I had some ground turkey in the freezer, I chose to use turkey instead. Since the amount of ground turkey was a little over 1 pound, I decided to make some meatballs as well. You can freeze some for later to use with a marinara sauce, if you like. Or you can make some larger patties and make turkey burgers out of them. Of course, if you are making these for a crowd, you don't need to worry about the amounts. You should have about 30 meatballs/patties about of the 1.25 pounds of meat. Their recipe for the patties used only 8 oz of meat. If you are using the 1.25 pounds of meat you will probably need to double the recipe for the sauce. I didn't double the sauce recipe, since I used only half the amount of patties and meatballs and reserved the rest for another use. For the sauce, I used an apricot jam instead of the plum jam. That's because I didn't have any on hand. For some reason, it is harder out here to find plum jam. But if you have plum jam, use it. We really liked these small bites. They weren't difficult to make...plus they offer an elegance to the table. I think they are perfect little bites. You can definitely make the patties ahead and then reheat them when you are ready to assemble them.

Turkey Patties/Meatballs.(yields close to 30-35 pieces )

1.25 lb ground turkey( you can use ground chicken as well)

1/2 onion, grated

1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs(not dried)

1 egg

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4-1/3 cup Parmesan, grated( this can be omitted, if you do not have)

1-2 TBS cilantro/parsley, chopped
3/4 tsp kosher salt( or to taste)

1 tsp pepper(or to taste)

oil, for browning

Asian Sauce: adapted from Cuisine-At-Home

1/3 cup plum jam( I used apricot)

3 TBS soy sauce

3 TBS rice vinegar

2 TBS BBQ sauce*

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

*( you can probably use ketchup if you don't have any BBQ sauce)

Vegetables:
1 bell pepper, red/yellow/orange, cut in 1 inch cubes

1 can of pineapple chunks

2 tsps oil

pinch of salt

Garnish:

2 TBS chopped chives/scallions

toothpicks

Directions:

Make Asian Sauce: Simmer the 5 ingredients in a saucepan on med heat. Simmer until it gets thick about 7-8 minutes. Keep the sauce warm.

Make patties or meatballs: I made half meatballs and half patties. You can make them all patties if you like. In a large bowl, add the turkey, grated onion,breadcrumbs, egg, Parmesan, cilantro salt and pepper.

Mix until all the ingredients are well combined.

Form the meatballs/patties with oiled hands and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. You can spray some additional oil on them, this helps with the browning.

Don't make the patties/ meatballs too big...they should be about 1 1/2 TBS. Broil the meatballs on one side until lightly browned (about 7-8 minutes).

Turn the meatballs over and brown on second side(another 7-8 minutes).

Just check them as each oven is different. I chose to use my toaster oven for this. Feel free to use the oven. If you don't want to use the broiler you can bake them as well at about 400 deg until nicely browned. Alternately, you can brown the meatballs/patties in a skillet using about 2 TBS of oil.

I like to place them in the oven...this way I don't have to deal with the oil splattering. But, you can do them either way.

For the vegetables: Take the 2 tsp of olive oil and place it in a skillet . When oil is hot, add the cut up bell peppers and pineapple chunks. Toss /stir-fry on med. heat until heated through and a bit caramelized. Don't over cook them.

You should have same amount of pepper and pineapple pieces as turkey patties.

Arrange appetizers: Take a toothpick and skewer a pineapple chunk, bell pepper and turkey patty. Place on a plate and drizzle some warm Asian BBQ sauce. Sprinkle some chopped chives. You can dip some meatballs in the sauce, if you like.