In The Kitchen: Chinese chicken lettuce wraps recipe

Chinese Culture

Photo credit: Victoria Li

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love crunchy, healthy and tasty bites of Chinese chicken lettuce wraps. I devised this recipe as an affordable alternative to the pricey options at restaurants and the best part is that it’s super easy to make and you can substitute any ingredient and sauce based on your own preference.

This recipe calls for chicken, vegetables, iceberg lettuce, and hoisin, or Chinese barbecue sauce, or Black pepper sauce. You can also easily make it with ground beef or pork or with butter, romaine or Chinese lettuce. If you prefer a sweeter sauce you can use teriyaki sauce or if you prefer a saltier one, try the hoisin sauce.

I made this for my friends, and they absolutely loved it.

Ingredients

Yield: 2 servings

1 cup of fresh mushrooms, any kind

1 pound thin cut chicken breast or chicken tenders

1 tablespoon olive oil or any vegetable oil

Salt and pepper

3 cloves garlic

1/3 diced red bell pepper

1 cup of fresh or frozen corn

2 tablespoons Hoisin/Chinese barbecue sauce/Black pepper sauce  (available in any Asian food market)

1/2 large head iceberg lettuce, quartered and separated into pieces

Directions

Choose your favorite kind of fresh mushrooms and remove the tough stems. Clean the mushrooms with a vegetable scrubber inside and out, dry with paper towels, dice them into small pieces.

Chop chicken into small pieces roughly the size of the mushrooms.

Preheat a large skillet to high, add olive oil and get the skillet hot.

Add the chicken to the pan. Sear the chicken by stir-frying for about a minute and a half. Add mushrooms and cook another minute or two. Add salt and pepper to season, then garlic and ginger (optional). Stir to blend everything together.

Add diced bell pepper dices and chopped scallions. Cook for another minute while stir-frying the mixture. Coat the mixture with a little hoisin sauce/BBQ sauce and mix evenly.

Transfer the mixture onto a plate and pile the iceberg lettuce pieces on the side. Add wedged oranges (or any fruit you like) to garnish.

To eat, spoon the mixture into lettuce leaves, and roll up the lettuce on both sides like a taco or burrito.

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From left to right: fresh mushrooms, butter lettuce, thin sliced chicken breast, red pepper, garlic and green pepper

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From left to right: hoisin sauce, minced ginger, black pepper sauce, olive oil, sea salt, sesame seed and black pepper

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Chopping peppers

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Finely diced: garlic, chicken, mushroom, corn, green and red peppers

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Heating up the skillet

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Adding chicken and garlic

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Adding rest of the ingredients and keep stir frying

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Mixing everything well then add sauce

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Enjoy!

Recipe by Victoria Li.