Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I have always wanted to make these, and I'm glad I chose this recipe! It's Todd Wilbur's version of P.F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps. So good! When I was making the special sauce, I had my doubts, serious doubts, but it was delicious! :o)


Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Adapted from Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur
Serves 2-3

Ingredients
3 Tbsp oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water chestnuts (about half of a 5 oz can)
2 mushrooms
3 Tbsp chopped onions
1 tsp minced garlic
4-5 leaves iceberg lettuce

Special Sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp sesame or peanut oil
1 Tbsp hot mustard
2 tsp garlic and red chile paste
2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water

Stir Fry Sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp hoison sauce
1/2 tsp rice vinegar

Directions
Bring oil to medium high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Saute chicken breasts for 5 minutes per side or until done. Remove chicken from the pan and cool. As chicken cools, mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas. (Also mince garlic and chop onions.) When chicken is cool, mince it.

Turn the heat back onto medium and prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, hoison sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in the wok/frying pan. Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pan. Saute the mixture for a couple minutes.

Get another frying pan and add the sugar, water, soy sauce, rice vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice, sesame or peanut oil, hot mustard, and garlic chili sauce to make the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps. I thought this is too water-y, so I added 2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in some water. Stir on medium heat until thickened.

Serve chicken mixture in lettuce "cups" and top with "special sauce."

*****

We had Brett's brother, Chris, over for dinner. This only made enough for 6 lettuce wraps, and the boys were still hungry. (I'm not really sure why I didn't double the recipe.) Brett said he was going to make a salad with the rest of the lettuce. This is what he brought back to the table for us to eat.



:o) He made one for each of us, and he demanded that we take a picture and write about it in my blog.

Ingredients
1/2 peeled head of iceberg lettuce
3 squeezes of Kraft Ranch dressing (he told me to say Hidden Valley, but he used Kraft)
3 small handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions
Cut the lettuce into thirds. Put one squeeze of ranch dressing on each lettuce chunk. Drop one small handful on each lettuce chunk. Eat with hands.