South African Christmas recipes

Kettle braai turkey with cashew nut stuffing

This recipe serves 12 people.

Ingredients

5 kg turkey

Liver and heart of a turkey

500 g pork sausage meat

4 slices of bacon

1 small tub of chicken livers

2 onions

2 eggs

2 to 4 thick slices of brown bread for crumbs

Butter and olive oil

600 g cashew nuts

1 sweet potato

Salt and black pepper, lemon juice, chopped parsley

Brandy (optional)

Crumb the bread and place in mixing bowl. Fry onions, bacon, liver, turkey heart, 400 g of cashews and sausage meat in butter and a dash of olive oil. Bake sweet potatoes and remove skin. Add the sweet potatoes to the mix, mince and add the juices from the frying pan. Keep some of the cashews for later.

Combine the mixture and bread crumbs and add two dessertspoons of parsley, salt and pepper to taste, a few drops of fresh lemon juice and the whole cashews. Add two glugs of brandy. Bind the mixture with two eggs and stuff the neck-end of the turkey. Sew the neck skin closed (use cotton or unwaxed dental floss, or skewers). Stuff the rest of the mixture into the abdominal cavity.

Rub the turkey with olive oil and place four to six slices of bacon on the breast side. Wrap in tinfoil. Make an indirect fire in your kettle braai and place the turkey breast-side up over a drip tray. Cooking time varies with the size of the bird — roast for 20 minutes per half-kilo.

Open foil for the last 30 minutes so that the bird browns nicely. When the bird’s juices run clear (stick a fork into the thigh to test), it’s done.