Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wraps

One of my favorite restaurants in town has chicken lettuce wraps on their appetizer menu. They also have killer nachos (bacon and crème fresh anyone!) but when I’m looking for something lighter or for an appetizer that could be a small meal I like to order the lettuce wraps. Even though lettuce wraps can be messy, I have no problem gobbling them up before we head to whatever fancy (mostly non fancy) thing we have planned for the night.

I found these wraps somewhere online but I’ve made so many changes that it no longer looks like the original recipe and I am happy to call it my own. The first time I saw this recipe I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of ingredients. As with any recipe, however, you are allowed to make changes and I took out what didn’t work for my pallet. In the future I may experiment by adding cellophane noodles and maybe mushrooms. The cook time on the chicken mixture is surprisingly quick. You can easily use a skillet but since I have a wok I like to use it.

Currently I serve the lettuce wraps as a meal for husband and myself. I like to load up a plate with lettuce and fill a bowl with the filling and we just sit at the table and chat while making our own wraps. With the holiday season coming up I would consider serving this as appetizers. It would be very easy to load up lettuce leaves ahead of time so that my guests could help themselves.

1 ½ lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in to ½ in dice

1 T. corn starch
3 T. toasted sesame oil

2 T. peanut oil
¾ cup finely sliced scallions
3 T. freshly peeled ginger, minced
2 T. jalapeno, minced
1 T. garlic, minced
8 oz. water chestnuts, rinsed, drained, and cut into ¼ in dice
2 T. soy sauce
¼ cup teriyaki sauce
1 T. fish sauce
3 T. thinly sliced fresh cilantro
2 heads Boston lettuce

Toss chicken with cornstarch. Heat 1 T. of sesame oil and 1 T. of peanut oil in a wok over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring frequently until it is cooked through. Using a slotted spoon, transfer chicken to bowl and set aside, leaving pan juices in the wok.

Add the remaining sesame and peanut oil to the wok. Add the scallions, ginger, jalapeno and garlic. Cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Add the water chestnuts, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, mirin and fish sauce to the wok. Bring sauce to a simmer. Return the chicken to the wok along with any juices in the bowl. Cook until the chicken has warmed through, about 5 minutes.

Plate chicken mixture in the center of a large platter. Sprinkle cilantro over the chicken mixture. Arrange lettuce leaves around the chicken mixture and serve.

To eat – have each guest spoon desired amounts of chicken mixture into lettuce “cups.”