minced chicken with lettuce cups

I want to thank everyone for your concerns. Most of my family and friends emailed me to say that they were okay--a bit shaken up and with no electricity for almost a whole day, but safe...whew!

Today it rained off and on--kind of a lazy, hang in bed and read day....

There is a dish that I have been wanting to try to re-create...minced pork with lettuce cups. It tastes like the inside filling of moo shu pork with lettuce to wrap the filling instead of the thin bread-like ones.

One ingredient in this dish is hoisin sauce--which I finally found in the gourmet supermarket! Hoisin sauce is a type of Chinese barbecue sauce. In Hawaii, my mother used to bake ribs and chicken with it...delicious!

I surfed the internet for a recipe and came up with one, which I adapted to get the flavors that I had in mind.

Here's the original recipe: Martin Yan's Lettuce Cups
Makes: 2-4 servings
8 ounces ground turkey (or minced chicken)
1 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoons dry sherry or rice wine
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoons minced ginger
6 dried black mushrooms
1 small carrot, cut into l/ 4-inch cubes
1 small zucchini, cut into l/ 4-inch cubes
1 cup diced water chestnuts
12 leaves small iceberg lettuce, cups
hoisin sauce
3/4 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts (optional)
Asian chili sauce (optional)

1. Place meat in a bowl with oyster sauce; stir to coat. Let stand for 10 minutes.
2. Soak mushrooms in warm water to cover until softened, about 15 minutes; drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the soaking liquid.
3. Trim and discard stems. Chop caps.
4. Place a wok over high heat until hot.
5. Add cooking oil, swirling to coat sides.
6. Add ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 10 seconds.
7. Add meat, stir-fry until meat crumbled and no longer pink (1-3 minutes).
8. Add carrot, zucchini, and water chestnuts; stir-fry for 30 seconds.
9. Add mushrooms and reserved mushroom soaking liquid.
10. Cook until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 2 minutes.
11. Add sherry/wine and sesame oil; cook until heated through.
12. If using, add walnuts and toss to coat.
13. To eat, spread hoisin sauce on a lettuce cup, spoon in meat filling, wrap in lettuce cup, and eat out of hand.
14. For spicier palates, top with Asian chili sauce.

Enjoy!

Notes: This was just what I was craving!...I used minced sasami (minced chicken breast) and added 1 teaspoon of Chinese 5-spice powder and 2 teaspoons of hoisin sauce to the oyster sauce marinade. Some people do not like minced turkey or chicken, by all means, use minced pork. Also, I did not put hoisin sauce onto the lettuce cup before eating. And instead of walnuts, I toasted a handful of pine nuts--unfortunately, I forgot to sprinkle them on top before I took the photo! I served this with an egg drop soup and multi-grain rice. It was messy goodness!

I also wanted to introduce you to an American clothing company, Life is good! They make t-shirts and other casual clothing. I never knew about them until I found them in a shopping mall in Osaka!

Each shirt has this little character on the back, too. Cute!

Life is good(most of the time!)...I wanted to make bagels today, but after measuring out some of the ingredients, I found out that I ran out of yeast! (darn!)...So, I will have to get some more before I can post about it....Enjoy the week.