Recipe: Lettuce Wraps
It’s Friday so that means it must be time for some Fun Food ideas from your Favorite Realtor and lover of all foods The Food Dude.
With a New Year comes new ideas, so we have decided to start featuring some of the home cooked meals we prepare here for ourselves. While this idea is not necessarily a new one, it is something we did during the lockdown of 2020. Something that we would like to try to do more of moving forward. This thought came from a conversation we had a couple weeks back after getting some carryout for lunch and spending $30 for a sub-par meal. With a little planning, for half the cost we could have had a much healthier and more satisfying lunch making it ourselves.
We are still all about supporting our local restaurants especially the non-franchise owned establishments who are struggling during these troubling times. We will continue to do so featuring our favorites as we eat our way around town, but we will also feature easy quick meals that can be prepared at home.
This week we made some Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps but substituting the chicken for ground turkey. Total prep and cook time is about 40 minutes and they can be made the day before and heated up when you are ready to eat them. This recipe came from Eating Well magazine. They have a lot of exciting food ideas.
You will need the following ingredients which can all be found at your local grocery store:
Shopping List:
2 Lbs ground turkey or chicken
2 T Canola Oil (can 1 T hot chili oil if you like things spicier)
½ c scallions plus additional for garnish
¼ c diced shallots (can substitute onions)
2 T grated fresh ginger
¾ c toasted cashews or peanuts
½ c diced celery
½ c low sodium chicken broth
1 T cornstarch
2 T lime juice
2 T brown Sugar
2 T chili garlic sauce
1 T toasted sesame oil
2 T low sodium Tamari (a type of Japanese soy sauce)
1 head of Boston bibb lettuce separated and cleaned (can also use iceberg)
Toasted sesame seeds
How To:
STEP 1: Heat 1 T oil in cast iron skillet or wok over medium heat. Add scallions, ginger and shallots and cook until softened, approx. 4 min.
STEP 2: Increase heat to high and add ground chicken or turkey. Cook breaking up the meat with a spoon until liquid has evaporated approx. 8-10 min.
STEP 3: Add nuts and celery and cook another 3-4 min until the celery is soft.
STEP 4: In a separate bowl whisk chicken broth and cornstarch until smooth then whisk in lime juice, brown sugar, tamari, and sesame oil.
STEP 5: Add to pan and cook stirring frequently until thickened, approx. 2-3 min.
STEP 6: Remove from heat and put approx. 1/3 c filling on each leaf and garnish with fresh scallions and sesame seeds…enjoy!
It is pretty simple and quite tasty.
Until next week…Eat Well and Enjoy Life!!!
- Keith & Teresa Becker