Chicken Lettuce Cups

Serves: 6
Prep Time: 25 min.  Cook Time: 10-15 min.

Lettuce cups are a staple of so many Asian menus, and a personal favorite.  This simple recipe is easy to follow and begs to be modified and tweaked to your personal likes.  Try it with thinly sliced and chopped steak, pork, or a combination!  Add more veggies, or pineapple.  Make it your own!

Ingredients

• 1 Lb. Ground Chicken (I prefer Covey Rise Farms)​
• Olive Oil
• Sesame Oil
• 2 Garlic cloves, peeled & chopped
• 2" piece of Ginger, peeled & chopped
• 2-4 red chilies chopped (Remove seeds to reduce spice)
• 1/2 Can Water Chestnuts drained, diced
• 1 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp. Fish Sauce
• 1 Zested Lime (reserve juice)
• 4 Green Onions chopped
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1-2 Heads of Butter Lettuce (Be sure to pick the best leaves!)

For the Sauce

• 1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce (preferably low sodium)
• Juice of 1/2 Lime
• 1 Tsp. Sesame Oil
• 1 Red Chili seeded & chopped
• 1/3 Cup FRESH Cilantro, finely chopped
• 2 Tsp. Fish Sauce
• 1 Tsp. Brown Sugar
• ​1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

Directions

1. This is a quick cooking dish, prep all of your ingredients first.​
2. Heat a large pan and add 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil. (Remember, never add olive oil to a cold pan)
3. Cook ground chicken, mincing into fine pieces as it's cooking. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, making sure to mix well.​
4. OPTIONAL: There are two ways you can go, you can continue cooking until the chicken is fully crispy, I prefer it a little softer, so once my mince has starting to crisp, I pull it from the heat.
5. Drain over paper towels on a plate.
6. Wipe out the pan and add 1 Tbsp. Sesame Oil, garlic, ginger, chilies, add a pinch of salt and the brown sugar.
7. Add minced chicken back to pan, fry for two minutes.
8. Add fish sauce, water chestnuts, lime juice and lime zest. Stir.
9. Add sauce, cook for 2 minutes and remove from heat.
10. Serve immediately in Butter Lettuce cups.

Sulli Says: This recipe is very versatile.  As I was writing this I even thought about making this with tofu and sprouts for my vegetarian friends or even shrimp for a seafood variation.  There are endless possibilities, the only limits are what you can think up.


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