Asian Style Lettuce Wraps

Asian style Lettuce (or Cabbage) Wraps:

I’ve been making this recipe for a couple years, but it definitely came in handy when farm boxes came several weeks in a row with lots of lettuce and cabbage. It’s fast, easy to prepare and chock-full of flavor.

Sautee until meat is thoroughly cooked and onions are transluscent:
-1 breast of chicken, finely chopped or 1/2-1 lb ground turkey, chicken, or leftover roasted chicken – whatever you have on hand (I wouldn’t recommend beef)
- 1/4 c. chopped scallions
- 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
Sauce: Combine in sauce pan all ingredients but cornstarch, simmer gently until sugar dissolves. Whisk in cornstarch and simmer until sauce is thickened. Remove from heat and pour half onto the cooked chicken mixture.
-1/2 c. soy sauce
-1/2 c. sugar
- 1TBSP mirin (sweet rice wine – this is good to have on hand if you do a lot of asian cooking)
-1 tsp. minced/grated garlic
- 1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
- 1 TBSP cornstarch
Toppings, etc:
- Cooked white or brown rice OR cooked rice noodles
- Grated carrots and cucumber, sprinkled with seasoned rice vinegar
- Peanuts if desired or any other sauces/nuts/etc you might prefer
- Washed and dried pieces of lettuce or cabbage (we used the Romaine from our box and it worked great! It was sturdy enough to hold good-sized portions)
Line everything up buffet style and people can fix their own wraps. Bruce’s brother loves these with spicy Thai peanut sauce, I like them more Japanese/Teriyaki-inspired.