Lettuce Wraps Craving Satisfied!

About 10 days ago my taste buds started whispering the following to my brain: the tang of soy sauce, the crispiness of bibb lettuce, and ginger. With that, my craving for lettuce wraps was stirred. I wanted something that required little staples and a lot of fresh ingredients. I searched my favorite sites and some obscure; narrowed it down to a few recipes (out of well over ten); then married two together and came up with the following:

• vegetable oil/EVOO, 2 teaspoons
• garlic, 4 cloves through a press
• fresh ginger, 1 tablespoon minced
• ground chicken, 1 1/2 pounds
• cremini mushrooms, 1 cup minced
• salt, 1/4 teaspoon
• water chestnuts, 1 8 oz. can, minced *(these are typically found on the asian food aisle)
• green onions, 1/2 cup minced
• soy sauce, 1/4 cup
• sesame oil *(I omitted this, used EVOO), 2 teaspoons
• lemon, 1, zested and then juiced.
• crushed red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon
• cilantro *(I omitted this), 1/3 cup chopped
• Bibb lettuce, 1 head

*Dipping Sauce recipe to follow

1. heat oil. add garlic, ginger. then add chicken, mushroom. brown chicken fully.
2. add salt, water chesnuts, green onion. add oil, red pepper flake, lemon.
3. reduce liquid till absorbed in chicken. add cilantro. serve.

Full Directions:
Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot add minced garlic and ginger. Saute for a minute just until fragrant and then add in the ground chicken, minced mushrooms, and salt. Cook until chicken is cooked through.

Add in the water chestnuts and green onions. Cook for a few minutes. Add in the soy sauce, sesame oil, juice and zest from the lemon, and crushed red pepper flakes. Let this reduce until it is nearly absorbed into the chicken. When everything is cooked through, remove from heat and stir in the cilantro.

To serve, carefully separate the whole leaves from the lettuce. Wash the lettuce leaves and wrap them in paper towels and put them in the refrigerator so they are cold and crisp when serving. Spoon chicken filling onto the lettuce leaf and then roll it up and serve with dipping sauce below.

Lettuce Wrap Dipping Sauce

• soy sauce, 1/4 cup
• rice vinegar *(I used white wine vinegar), 1/8 cup
• fresh ginger, 1 tablespoon minced
• green onions, 2 tablespoons chopped

Fair warning with these: THEY ARE MESSY! But they're wraps....do you polish off a taco with no flyaways? I made fried rice to go along with these wraps. Simple and healthful as well ( I was on a roll). This was my first effort at "frying rice". I'm from the south, we don't fry rice. But to accompany my aforementioned meal, this seemed like a logical side dish.
Brown Rice, 1 cup previously cooked *( I kept precooking mine and delaying the meal...2 batches trashed I finally made the dish!)

• vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon of (definitely try to use Veg oil here b/c the higher smoke point)
• eggs, 2
• shallots, 2 chopped *(if you like a stronger flavor, go for half an onion)
• ginger, 1 tablespoon minced
• garlic, 2 cloves minced
• carrots, 1 cup diced blanched
• frozen peas, 1 cup thawed & warmed *(toss these into the carrot water)
• soy sauce, 2 tablespoons
• *green onion to your liking!

1. heat oil. add ginger, shallot till softens.
2. add egg, scramble without breaking in pieces.
3. fold rice, peas, carrots, soy sauce. serve.

Full Directions:
Heat oil on medium high in a skillet/wok. (I used a saute pan, though woks make it more fun and serve a particular function, they aren't really necessary...and when I go buy one next week, yes, I'll remember writing this). OK, so you've got the oil heated, add the ginger and shallot. Saute until they shallot softens. Add garlic and saute till fragrant about 30 seconds. Crack the eggs and break the yolk with whatever you are cooking with. I favor a spoonula http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-spoonula.htm . Scramble the egg without breaking it in pieces. Fold in the rice, peas and carrots, tossing to "fry". Add soy sauce and blend well into the rice.

If you try it, I hope you like it! I thought it was really good. The textures of the meat/mushroom, lettuce and sauce was exactly what my tastebuds had in mind...or so they said ;)