Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I have been a fan of PF Chang's since my first visit about 3 years ago. It was love at first sight. So it only makes sense that I keep trying to recreate their recipes at home. The cooking project for tonight was Chicken Lettuce Wraps. The procedure is rather simple because you just brown ground chicken with a few veggies on your stovetop. But the sauces are really what make this dish memorable. I say sauses because there are two. There's the sauce you add to the cooked chicken in the pan (that's sauce#1). Then there's the sauce you add to the finished dish (#2). Be still my heart, they are both so good.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps
inspired by PF Chang's

Sauce #1
cooking sauce
1 T hoisin sauce
1 T reduced sodium soy sauce
2 T oyster sauce
2 T water
1 tsp hot sesame oil
1 tsp Splenda no calorie sweetener

Sauce #2
2 T Splenda no calorie sweetener
1/2 cup water
3 T low sodium soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
1/4 tsp hot sesame oil
2 T chopped scallions
2 T Sambal Olek- I like Huy Fong
1 tsp Dijon mustard

Chicken
1 T canola oil
1 pound ground chicken
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 tsp minced fresh garlic
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 cup button mushrooms chopped- if you have exotic mushrooms around, by all means use them
3/4 cup cooked edamame

Iceberg lettuce or Bibb lettuce for wrapping

Whenever I make Chinese food I get all my prep work done first. So make your sauces and set aside. Just whisk all ingredients together in two separate bowls.

Now prepare your vegetables.

On stovetop over medium heat add canola oil to sauce pan or wok. Add ground chicken and brown a few minutes. Break up the ground meat while browning. Add ginger, garlic, scallions and mushrooms and saute until chicken is cooked and not pink anymore.

There's nothing pretty about the dish at this point. Until you add Sauce #1.

Stir in the yumminess and add the edamame.

Now you're ready to plate the dish. I used Bibb lettuce, but iceberg works maybe even better because it's sturdier. Place a few tablespoons of chicken mixture into lettuce cups, sprinkle with cilantro leaves, spoon some of sauce #2 on top and enjoy. And then go for seconds.

If you happen to have any left over chicken, here's an idea. Boil up about 6 ounces of linguini, mix with leftover sauce #2 and chicken and reheat for another meal.