cabbage wrap with quinoa

I have to admit, a lot of Chinese dishes that are in the restaurants now-a-days are not very healthy. They are either deep fried or smothered with sauces and most of the time with added MSG. So, I decided to do my own. I’ve changed and tweaked this recipe from what was originally a Chinese dumpling dish. As it turned out, the critics loved it…I mean my kids loved it.

This healthy turkey wrap is one delicious meal with raw cabbage and a heapful of quinoa. To add flavor and pack the meal with more nutrients, I added black fungus. Growing up, I remember eating black fungus in my egg rolls and some vegetarian dishes that my grandmother cooked, so I tossed in some sliced black fungus and indeed it’s a great complement to this dish. On a side note, did you know that black fungus has been used as a medicinal food in China? It’s got amazingly high levels of iron. To read more about black fungus, see references and my pictures below. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 tsp coconut oil (or oil of your choice)

½ cup uncooked quinoa (makes 2 cups cooked, in this recipe you only need one cup cooked, but I usually double my recipe so this works out wonderfully. Cooking less than ½ of quinoa just seems too little to even bother).

1 cup water

2 Tbsp grated ginger

2-3 tsp finely chopped fresh garlic

½ lb ground turkey

1 ½ cup diced green cabbage

9 small dried black fungus-makes about ½ cup soaked and thinly sliced. (Optional)

½ – 1 Tbsp low-sodium tamari soy sauce

15 cabbage leaves

Instructions:

Soak black fungus for at least 20 minutes, then cut into thin slices. (See pictures below) Set Aside.

Put quinoa and 1 cup of water in a pot and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer until all the water is absorbed about 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat, covered and let it sit for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Heat wok or large sauté pan with coconut oil in medium heat. When pan is hot, add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.

Add ground turkey; cook for about 4-5 minutes, stir and crumble meat while cooking. Now add black fungus in pan and cook for about 4 minutes more.

Add diced cabbage and cook for about 2 minutes. We prefer our cabbage crunchy, but if you like your cabbage softer, cook slightly longer to your liking. Then turn off heat.

Add cooked quinoa.

Lastly, mix in tamari to taste. Starting with ½ Tbsp and add more to taste.

Served hot with cabbage leaves drizzled with Orange-Ginger Dipping Sauce. Yum!

Yield: 15 cabbage wraps with 1/4-cup filling or 7-8 wraps with 1/2 cup filling. (for my family of 5, 2 adults & 3 young kids, I have to double the recipe)