Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Lettuce cups


Once again, I'm playing with a Martin Yan recipe. In his cookbook, he implies that he made up the recipe... which he could have, but I've liked "rainbow chicken in lettuce cups" since college. The white tablecloth Chinese restaurant in Cleveland is called Li Wah, and I first ordered this dish back in 1996.
I like the way 'lettuce cups' sounds, but Joe thought they should be called lettuce wraps. Then I suggested portable salad. Joe said lettuce burger. I said lettuce po' boy. But I should have said lettuce sloppy joes because this is the messiest meal ever. Anyway, it was worth it.
Chicken Lettuce Cups
1 lb ground chicken or turkey (mixed in:)
3 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp chinese rice wine
3 tsp soy sauce
1/3 cup diced mushrooms
Meanwhile, in a stir-fry pan:
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 tsp minced ginger
Then add meat mixture and cook til crumbly. Next add:
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped cauliflower
1 chopped red bell pepper
Cook til tender, then add:
1/3 cup chopped green onion
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Halve a head of lettuce and gently pull apart lettuce "cups" Scoop meat mixture into each leaf, then top with this:
Sauce
1/4 cup hoisin
2 tsp water
1 1/2 tsp garlic chili sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
Garnish with fresh cilantro.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We would like to feature your lettuce cups on our blog. Please email haleyglasco@gmail.com if interested. Thanks :)

Haley

blog.keyingredient.com/