Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Monday, April 19, 2010

Chicken Lettuce Wraps found in First magazine

1 package frozen Asian veggie medley (no sodium, sugar or sauce added),
  thawed and finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1lb lean ground chicken, cooked
1/2 cup bottled plum sauce
2 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1/4 cup unsalted chopped cashews
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
12 whole leaves Boston or Bibb lettuce

Directions: Coat large skillet with oil spray. Saute veggie medley, garlic and ginger thoroughly. Stir in chicken, plum sauce, soy sauce and rice vinegar. Add salt, pepper and chili paste, if desired. Heat through. Remove skillet from heat; stir in cashews and cilantro. Let cool 5 minutes. Fill each lettuce leaf with 1/2 cup chicken mixture.

Modifications:

-Apparently, I didn't take my own advice . . . I thought I had a head of garlic so I didn't buy any at the store this week.  When I went to make this dish I realized the garlic was bad so I substituted garlic salt/garlic powder.  Not a great substitute but it worked ok.

-Schnuck's did not have any Boston or Bibb lettuce so I had to use iceberg lettuce.  It tasted great but did not work as well as the others would have.

Here's what I started with:




Here's how I did it:

#1 I minced up a handful of cilantro.  (Have I told you how much I LOVE fresh herbs????)


#2 I threw the ground chicken into a pan to brown.


#3 I cut off a piece of ginger and peeled it.


#4 I sprayed a wok down with spray and let it get really hot.  Then, I opened the bag of stir-fry vegetables and threw them in.


#5 I grated the piece of ginger.


#6 I sprinkled in the garlic salt/garlic powder.


#7 Next, came 1/4 cup plum sauce. (yummy)



#9 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar


#10 2 Tbsp soy sauce


#11 The cooked chicken was added and I stirred everything together.


#12  Finally, the chopped cashews and cilantro were added and mixed together.



The Finished Product:


Review:

These lettuce wraps were really, really good!  They had great flavor, even though I wish I would have had "real" garlic, and they tasted authentic.

The lettuce was not crispy enough so Scott and I both just ended up cutting it up and making more of a Chicken Lettuce Wrap salad.  The vegetables were a little long so I cut those up, too.  I wish that I would have done a rough cut on them before putting them onto the lettuce but the taste results were the same.

The star of this dish was the cashews.  I wish that I would have used a full up of the cashews instead of the 1/4 cup.  They really brought out the flavor and added the extra crunch that the flimsy lettuce lacked.

I wouldn't say that this is a child-friendly dish, at least not my children, but it is defintily good!

Hope you enjoy!
April


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