Lettuce Wraps

Tonight I made lettuce wraps. This was somewhat healthy (and even healthier if you use ground turkey or even tofu if you want to go vegetarian) and packed FULL of flavor! Here's the recipe and then my changes/variation afterwards as well as my friend, Abby's variation too:

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients
16 Boston Bibb or butter lettuce leaves
1 pound lean ground beef
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons minced pickled ginger
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
Asian chile pepper sauce (optional)
1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 teaspoons Asian (dark) sesame oil

Directions
1.Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry, being careful not tear them. Set aside.
2.In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the ground beef in 1 tablespoon of oil, stirring often and reducing the heat to medium, if necessary. Drain, and set aside to cool. Cook the onion in the same pan, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chile pepper sauce to the onions, and stir. Stir in chopped water chestnuts, green onions, and sesame oil, and continue cooking until the onions just begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.
3.Arrange lettuce leaves around the outer edge of a large serving platter, and pile meat mixture in the center. To serve, allow each person to spoon a portion of the meat into a lettuce leaf. Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito, and enjoy!
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My Variation:

Ingredients

• I used romaine lettuce instead of Bibb lettuce. Iceberg or Bibb would have been better but I got the Romaine on sale. :)
• I used peanut oil for the cooking oil
• I used fresh ginger instead of pickled simply because fresh was cheaper. I grated it in.
• I didn't have the pepper sauce so I just used red pepper flakes. I'm sure the cause would have been better, but I used what I had!
• I added cilantro
• I omitted the sesame oil since I didn't have any
• On the table I put out bean sprouts, grated carrots, and fresh cilantro to add into the wraps.

Directions:

• I followed the directions pretty much to a T. After the onions and everything were all cooked down, I added the beef back in and gave it a nice mix. The only thing about this was that it didn't create a lot of sauce. I had a bottle of Thai Peanut Sauce and Sweet Chili Sauce so I put those on the table to dd in as each person would like.

Overall this dish was wonderful!! It was a great thing for a warm summer night!

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My friend, Abby, makes chicken lettuce wraps. HEre's her recipe. It sounds great and sounds like it makes more sauce! :) I also like this because I could make it at any point during the day (like naptime) and then have it on hand when it's time to make dinner! Perfact! Thanks Abby!

OK so I don't really measure on this one; it was sort of a throw together whatever i had on hand sort of thing. I tried to guess on the amounts as best I could to give you an idea, but feel free to tweak them as necessary! Oh also, I use low sodium on everything otherwise it can get really salty.

Dice 1lb of boneless skinless breasts and put in a large plastic storage bag. Add about one cup of chicken stock or broth, 3-4 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons OJ (I've also done it with lime juice instead and it's pretty good, but I did only 1T), 2 tablespoons minced garlic (we love garlic so they are heaping!!), 1/4 c chopped water chestnuts and the white and light green part of 2 green onions. Seal the bag and mix it all together. Let marinade about 30 minutes.

Heat up about a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok over medium to medium-high heat Remove the chicken from the bag and add to the pan. While it is cooking add 1ish tablespoon of cornstarch to the marinade and mix together. Set aside. Once the chicken is no longer pink, scoot to the edge of the pan and add the marinade. Let come to a boil and lower the heat. Mix the chicken into the sauce and it will thicken up. Remove from the pan. There may be extra sauce because you don't want it too saucy in the wrap.

We just do it build your own style and lay out the lettuce, put the chicken in a bowl as well as a bowl of crunchy chow mein noodles.