Thanksgiving Turkey Roast Recipe in Indian style#How to roast a Thanksgiving turkey in Desi style

Roasted Turkey 2016

Roasted Turkey  2015

                              Thanksgiving meal Table 2011

                                              Roasted Turkey and side dishes

Thanksgiving Day is a National holiday celebration and giving thanks for the harvest and blessings. It has its own traditional values in North America and Canada.For this holiday family reunites and have a dinner together.Normally they are roasting/grilling Turkey and having  it with mashed potatoes and bread.Pumpkin pie and Cranberry sauce.But for us Indians,we have our own masalas for non veg items and we don't like this turkey style.So I'm going to explain the preparation method of turkey.Turkey is a bigger bird than hen/chicken so need triple quantity of ingredients.

Frozen Turkey

What you need for roasting a Turkey

• Frozen Turkey,10-12 lbs - 1
• Yogurt - 1 cup
• Lemon Juice of - 2 lemon
• Garlic paste -  2 medium sized balls 
• Ginger paste - 1 large piece
• Chicken Masala - 3 Tb sp
• Chilli Powder - 2  Tb sp
• Coriander Powder - 2 Tb sp
• Cumin Powder - 2 Tb sp
• Garam Masala - 2 Tb sp
• Green Chilli Paste - 1/2 tsp
• Onions chopped - 2 
• Chopped Carrots - 2 cups
• Chopped celery - 1 cup
• Potatoes - 2 cups
• Spring Onions - 1 cup
• Cilantro and mint chopped - 2 cups
• Crushed Pepper - 2 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Olive Oil - 1/2 cup
• Big Oval shaped Aluminium tray with handle - 1
• Aluminium foil -use  as needed
• Oil brush - for applying oil(optional)
• Large oval shaped plate - 1 
• Fruits,mint leaves  for final garnishing(optional)

                                                       

                                                               After marination 
Method of Preparation

1.   Prepare the turkey for roasting: Cleaning & Thawing

• Clean the turkey well or you can also get cleaned turkeys from the market.If its frozen,First of all we need to thaw turkey in hot water bath(in a big vessel or simply create a water bath in your kitchen sink) for hours in order to melt the ice(mini 3-5 hrs for thawing) and replace the water in every 30 minutes.
• Or Else you can keep the turkey in refrigerator rack itself for thawing from monday or tuesday onwards.(Since we are marinating turkey on wed eve and roasting on thursday morning or evening).Turkey will thaw in refrigerator itself within a few days or approximately 24 hours for every 5 pounds of turkey in refrigerator.
• Take out giblets(can use for other recipes) and any other packaging from inside(body cavity) the turkey.
• Place the cleaned and thawed turkey in aluminium foil and set it  in the pan,breast side up.
• Tie the legs together with a  thick cotton thread/twine and remove the plastic tag.
• Mix all the spices/masalas together in a bowl. Marinate the turkey well,both inside and outside and refrigerate it for 5-6 hours  or overnight.

2.Preheat the oven to 450 degree F(use conventional baking oven)or roasting oven.

• Grease the aluminium tray or roasting pan with olive oil.

3.Add all the veggies to the roasting pan

• Place the turkey covered with aluminium foil(breast side up)in the middle and add all the veggies to the tray  around turkey and add mint,cilantro some chopped onion,lemon juice and lit garlic paste to the inside portion of turkey.(This allows the turkey to cook evenly,instead of stuffing too much things)
• Sprinkle crushed pepper and salt on top of the veggies.

4.Place the turkey in the oven and set(lower)the temperature to    350 deg F.

5.Roast the turkey.

• The thumb rule for roasting time for a turkey is 13 minutes for a pound.That means if your turkey is 12 pounds,roast for almost 2.30 hours and if your turkey is 16 pounds,roast for almost 3.30 hours.
• Our turkey was 12 pounds, so first let the turkey Roast for 1 hour and then collect the water/fat oozed out from the turkey carefully (purely optional)and allow to get roast for another 1.30 hours.

6. Apply oil at the end of cooking before 30 minutes

• Remove aluminium foil and brush with olive oil or butter,if you add some dried herbs like Thyme,Rose mary etc and then let it cook again for 30 minutes.By that time our turkey will be  golden brown in colour.

7.Check the temperature of the turkey or keep an eye on the pop up.  

• For the last 30 minutes,check the temperature of the turkey with a food thermometer at three places :breast area,outer thigh and inside thigh.
• The cooked turkey temp should be 165 deg F and if its not,roast the turkey for another 20- 30 minutes.(But checking the temperature is purely optional).
• We didn't do that and for us When the turkey  is fully cooked, the timer will pop up.. in that case,no need of temp checking.

8.Rest the turkey before carving.

• Carefully lift the whole roasted turkey and transfer it to a good cutting  board with clean mittens.
• Cover with aluminium foil and rest it for 30 minutes.(by this time,juices will be re-absorbed,which makes the turkey taste juicier and easy to slice.)
• Collect all the juices from the tray and use it for making turkey gravy.
• Use all the roasted vegetables as side dish and use fresh fruits  for garnishing. 

9.Carve the turkey 

• Carving is simply cutting the turkey the same way we do for chicken.First,cut the wings, and then thighs(thighs and  drumsticks).
• Cut the breast meat portion and slice it evenly and gently.
• Serve the carved turkey in plates.

10.Enjoy your Thanksgiving meal(either lunch or dinner with your family and friends)

How to make turkey gravy 

• Also if you need Turkey gravy sauce,don't discard the water oozed out from the turkey.Keep it in a pan and allow to boil.Also add 1 Tb sp of corn flour for getting a thicker gravy.
• Serve this along with turkey slice.

                                       Turkey after roasting

                                    Roasted Turkey -2011

                                        Roasted Turkey - 2012  

                                        Left over Turkey
       Tips 

• For added flavor and delicious look:
• Apply olive oil or butter all over  the turkey for a brownish       colour and add mint leaves,lemon juice and garlic to the inside cavity for more flavor.

Notes

While going through other recipe sites,you will notice the terms, Baste and brine.This is not a big deal..and trust me,we didn't do this.Yes,you can simply skip this.

Basting the turkey simply means collect the juices oozed out from the turkey at every 45 minutes and apply all over the turkey with a spoon,brush or syringe.This will help to get a delicious golden brown turkey at the end.

(But this step is too crazy...taking  out the turkey from the tray and collect the juice at every 45 minutes)

You can skip this and roast the turkey in one attempt.

Brine a turkey(purely optional)

American method:

• Just warm up spices like paprika,pepper,ginger & garlic powder and some herbs like thyme in a pan in 1/2 cup water.Boil it and added to a big cold water bath(big vessel with cold water).Add 1 or 2 cups of salt to the water.
• Completely immerse the turkey in this water bath and fill its cavities.Tie the legs and keep this turkey in this brine water bath over night and keep this in refrigerator rack..
• Next day take out the turkey and apply few spices and olive oil and roast it.
• This was practically not possible in our house and we simply skip this step.

Brine water is simply salt water solution and it makes the turkey more juicier even after roasting.

• You can see that pop up( timer) in pic.(red pin)
• You can add chopped veggies like onion,carrot,potato,celery,cilantro) of your choice to the pan and can have along with  roasted turkey meat.
• If you like you can bake pumpkin /apple pie or you can buy those pies from store.[Usually Americans bake pies,Beans casserole and other Thanks giving traditional side dishes along with turkey in the same oven].
• You can also have turkey with bread,chapathi or fried rice in our own style.
• With this roasted turkey left overs,You can make delicious Turkey masala in the same way like we prepare chicken curry with onion,tomatoes,ginger n garlic.
• You can simply carve the turkey in the same pan itself like we did.

In 2011 and 2012 we had turkey with our friends and  family in a potluck lunch and had full night shopping madness till early morning.In 2015,we again roasted a turkey and the pic is uploaded here.

• First and turkey(roasted) pics are not so good,i think it was over cooked.At that time,in 2011 I even don't know cooking(just after marriage,But in next year in 2012,it was fine,but the legs are opened.:-)pheew.
• A big thanks to my loving husband,Tiju who helped me to clean, marinate and off course roasting the big turkey.He loves Turkey baking.

So friends if you didn't do this turkey roast,i'm telling just try an attempt this year.Buy a small turkey and roast it like i said,I'm sure you will do this big roasting every year,since this turkey meat is so delicious than chicken. hhmmmm!!!! enjoy your thanks giving turkey roast,center piece of attraction in holiday season  and have a fabulous shopping.
please let me know your comments.
Thank you 

Happy Thanks giving 2018

Happy Shopping buddies
Cheers
Riya
 Kottayam Kitchen

:-)