Asian Lettuce Wraps

Asian Lettuce Wraps. Made by a Caucasian. AND they were good! That's what we had for dinner Sunday night. Probably next time we will double the amount of Hoison sauce we use to make our filling more saucy. Don't I sound all authentic now throwing around words like Hoison?

I had more pictures than this, but they have officially disappeared. I am so confused. And so technologically inept that I'm just going to consider it water under the bridge because there is nothing I can do. I had more visuals cause who doesn't love some cooking pictures, but oh well.

Here's the chopped green onion, onion, and garlic.

There's grated ginger in a teeny tiny little bowl next to this. There's also some olive oil, soy sauce, homemade Hoison sauce, diced water chestnuts, and ground turkey. It's all cooked and mixed together below, in front of our washed romaine lettuce leaves. I opted for romaine instead of the traditional iceberg just because. And I can make that decision.

So the recipe called for Hoison sauce, and we had no idea what that was. So naturally, we Googled it. Cause that's what we do at our house when we don't know stuff (I probably shouldn't mention that I work in research...Google is not research). BUT we found out we could make our own! I felt so cultured on Sunday night.

Anyhow, here's the recipe for the lettuce wraps and below that is the recipe for our Hoison sauce.

Lettuce wraps:

16 lettuce leaves
1 pound lean ground beef (or turkey)
1 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 T soy sauce
1/4 cup Hoisin sauce (but we decided we'd up this to 1/2 cup)
2 tsp grated ginger
1 T rice wine vinegar
1 (8 oz) can  chopped and drained water chestnuts (I love me some water chestnuts.)
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 tsp sesame oil

Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry being careful not to tear them. Set aside.
In a medium skillet, over high heat, brown the meat in 1 T 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, and vinegar to the onions and stir. Stir in chopped water chestnuts, green onions, sesame oil, and meat. Continue cooking until the onions begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.
Scoop meat into lettuce leaf, and roll burrito-style. Eat up!

Hoisin sauce (makes 1/2 cup):

4 T soy sauce
2 T peanut butter
1 T honey or brown sugar
2 tsp white vinegar
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 tsp sesame oil
20 drops Chinese hot sauce...Casey's favorite is Siriracha. He puts it on everything even when it's not warranted (by my standards, of course). He's so funny.

 

Whisk all together and voila.

If you can't get yourself to P.F. Chang's, don't worry about it. Just make your own (cheaper...and healthier to boot) lettuce wraps at home.