Chinese Lettuce Wraps

Anyone have a tried and true recipe for these?? I ate them at PF Chang's, want to make them at home!!!

No recipe per se, but a Japanese friend of mine used to make these. He would let out some food mixture (often some sort of tasty meat) and some pieces of romaine lettuce. You were supposed to scoop up the mixture with the lettuce or wrap it up like a sandwich or roll. He said it was especially a New Year's dish.

Sorry, I don't have a recipe, but Soho Asian Bistro serves them in Port Angeles, and they are very good. This is the only place I have ever seen them,I have never been to a PF Changs.

They aren't hard.. saute chicken, veggies, add asian sauce..wrap in lettuce leaves..easy.

They are not hard to make. Like many Chinese dishes, they are both ingredient-driven (meaning they require very specific ingredients that are hard to get in some places and impossible to substitute for) and technique-driven (very precise, small amounts of ingredients for sauce and specific cuts and cooking procedures).

And this specific recipe remains easy to make anyway. It's got a lot of steps but all are easy to do. I have combined a few different recipes here- most recipes call for stir-frying the chix but the best way is to poach it first and then stir-fry. The poaching separates the chopped chix much better than just wokking it. This is a great example of a very specific technique that really enhances the overall dish.


Pull the crispy middle leaves from an iceberg or two. Trim them into circles and chill.

Take 2 boneless breast halves, about 12 oz, and chill them well. Cut them up into small chunks and food-process them until well-chopped, but not so much as to turn them into a paste.

Marinate chix in:

a big pinch kosher salt (much less if using table salt)
1 t sugar
1/2 t white pepper (not black, very important)
1 t cornstarch
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 T light soy sauce (as opposed to dark soy, which is much thicker and has molasses in it)
2 T rice wine or sherry (sherry is one item that is a near-perfect substitution, in this case for rice wine)
2 T toasted sesame oil
2 T ice water

Combine marinade ingredients well except water, dissolving all solids. Toss chix in it well, and then beat in the ice water (this lightens the texture).

Chop 3-4 soaked, drained and squeezed out Chinese black mushrooms into bits not much bigger than the chopped chix.

Chop a walnut-sized piece of Szechwan preserved vegetable in same size bits. It is the root of the mustard plant. It comes in a can, is green and knobbly and covered in red chili sludge. Rinse it off; it's not near as hot as you might think. This is a must have-- order it online if you must.

Chop 4-6 water chestnuts in same size bits. If you can get them fresh do not hesitate. But canned is better than none.

Mix all this into chix and marinate 30 minutes.

Heat up 1/4 inch peanut oil in sauce pan. When very hot, add some of those fine dried rice sticks, broken up, not the thicker ones for pad thai. You can sub bean thread noodles. Don't put too many in the pan and they will instantly puff up in a very pleasing manner. Remove to a brown grocery bag.

Toast a bit less than a quarter cup pine nuts and leave them aside.

Mix together four T oyster sauce (a must-have, order online if you must), big pinch sugar, pinch white pepper, 1.5 t cornstarch, and half-cup water. This is the sauce. Set aside.

Chop 2 cloves garlic fine. Slice 1-2 scallions very fine and separate greens from whites.

Get a saucepan of water boiling. Add chix, stir well, poach just until no longer pink and drain well.

Get a saute pan hot. Unless you have a restaurant-style range, a saute pan gets hotter because the flat bottom enables better heating up than a wok with steep sides does.

Add 2 T peanut oil when pan is very hot. Add white parts of scallions and chopped garlic, stir-fry until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Then add chix and stir-fry a minute or so. Stir sauce very well and add. Stir-fry until sauce thickens. Drizzle 1 T toasted sesame oil into chix and stir. Remove from heat at once.

Now you can bring this to the table in a pretty bowl and encourage folks to fill the lettuce cups themselves. In that case add pine nuts and green part of scallions at the very last minute to the chix. Have some hoisin sauce out to be brushed into lettuce cups.

If you choose to fill the cups yourself and then bring them out, brush lettuce cups with hoisin and garnish each filled cup with pinenuts and green parts of scallions.

Eat. Try not to ooh and ahh with pleasure and pride. Fail.

Sounds complicated. It is. But it is not hard. If you have your ingredients all set to go and have enough space for everything as you cook, it is easy as heck to make. Good luck and report back if you make them!

Forgot the puffed-up rice sticks. Mix into chix after sesame oil is added.

I use to chop the chicken breast with two cleavers..that's the way the Chinese chefs do it and it comes out great. I've made them several times and they turned out pretty good. But, I've gotten too lazy and would rather eat them at the restaurant.

It definitely comes out better that way, Ben, but as you know it is a semi-major pain in the butt to do, so I opt for the food processor. We all gotta draw the line somewheres.

I don't make them all that often because here in Oakland and environs, there are so many superior Chinese restaurants. But if I weren't near such an embarrassment of riches, Chinese food-wise, I would definitely take the time to make them. It is a kick in the pants when you make something that is so authentic. Puffs me right up it does.

Essvee..Well, as long as you get a kick out of this stuff, then try shrimp toast, fantail shrimp, egg rolls, roast pork and ribs....I mention these because they are easy ones and come out "legitimate." A word I use to describe when it's just like the restaurant's version. If I cannot make it like the restaurant, I won't do it. I never perfected shrimp with lobster sauce, but made a good shrimp with garlic sauce. I made a decent sweet and sour shrimp, but not quite good enough. Etc etc.

My fried table noodles and duck sauce were as good as any place in Brooklyn. So, by time the guests ate them, the roast pork appetizer, the egg rolls, the fan tail shrimp and the ribs, I rarely had to even try and make a entree. I never made an acceptable fried rice and I tried everything! Just never as good as the restaurant and I believe the problem was the heat or lack of heat from my electric wok...Just not hot enough to absorbe all the liquids. I never used a steel wok on a gas burner..Only had electric ranges.

Come to think of it..all my best stuff did not need a wok and that's why it was so good. I just could never get the heat high enough on that stupid Sunbeam eletric work.

I didn't use too many recipes, but there is an excellent old time Chinese Cantonese cookbook called Jim Lee's Chinese Cookbook and that's where I got my start back in the 70's when I'd have friends over and cook for them. What I made good was as good as any Chinese restaurant..It was a limited menu though. See if you can get your hands on that book. Anytime you want any suggestions or help so to speak, please free to e-mail me. I am just too lazy to do this cooking anymore. But, I sure can remember the how to's. You can hang the roast pork and make the ribs in the oven perfectly. All the rest of the stuff I did well was fried.

Yer email's not listed, Ben.

essvee - it's on there now....

If one is inclined to be lazy (as I am often inclined!), you can buy a frozen lettuce wrap filling at Trader Joe's. I've had that, and the one from PF Changs, and found them somewhat comparable. Very easy: nuke, and put in on lettuce. That's my kind of cookin'!

Joanie...does that include the chicken

Yeah, as I recall, it's some sort of chicken glop. It tasted pretty good. And it was easy. And fairly reasonably priced. Give it a try!

There is a restaurant in Marlborough, Mass, that has the best lettuce wraps...
(they make a mean pineapple shrimp also)

Joy Asia-Boston Post Road (RT 20-east)

I love those things!....
But funny is, its the only place I have seen them, and I always look for them on the menu.

Asian Wraps, by Nina Simonds is a very nice little book with all sorts of Asian fillings in tortillas, lettuce, pancakes, etc. Most of the fillings would work with lettuce leaves. Not all are Chinese, some are Southeast Asian, Korean, Japanese or Indian. This is a book I use after a long day at work, when I need some comfort food, but somewhat healthy and quick to prepare food. Every thing I've made from this book has been enjoyable, but I have to add, I like things more highly spiced, so I up the ginger, garlic, chiles, and herbs a bit.

http://www.amazon.com/Asian-Wraps-Deliciously-Hand-Held-Bundles/dp/0688163009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219438118&sr=1-1

Top Secret (Shhhhh) recipe for PF Changs Lettuce Wraps. Never tried to make it but found it along the way.


PF Changs Lettuce Wraps

3 tablespoons oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water chestnut
2/3 cup mushroom
3 tablespoons chopped onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4-5 leaves iceberg lettuce

Special Sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon hot mustard
2 teaspoons water
1-2 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste

Stir Fry Sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl.

Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil.

Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve.

Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well.

Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps.

Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan.

Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or done.

Remove chicken from the pan and cool.

Keep oil in the pan, keep hot.

As chicken cools mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas.

Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.

When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms and water chestnuts are.
With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp of vegetable oil.

Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pan.

Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it in the lettuce"cups".

Top with"Special Sauce".

Ants in a tree.
rice noodles.
1 rec of favorite dish(moo-goo, etc in a lite clear sauce)
Fry the noodles in small batches till puffed. Plate and drizzle meat on top. Serve with wilted lettuce wraps
britt

We have a favorite Chines waiter in the Atlanta area, "Andy." He has worked in south and north suburbs. From time to time he has given us insights about Chinese food. I asked him once where lettuce wraps originated and expected an answer like Hong Kong or Shanghai.

His reply was humerous though, and we all smiled. "New York City," he said.

I would like to know though. I'd not like to eat food in a leafy wrapper propagated by the Chinese methods I've read about. Maybe it was New York City...

I worked at Chang's. (Sorry everybody! O_o )

The secret, as I was told by one of the sous chefs is the wheat gluten that, when wok-fried, gives a smoky, fresh, delectable taste. According to some food sites, it imparts the MSG-style flavor found in non MSG-added foods.

People at the restaurant with food allergies, especially wheat allergy would ask for them without the wheat gluten and they would NOT taste the same.

I worked as a food runner and server at the restaurant, and since the company is so willing to feed its employees with family style meals before every shift, I was able to pick apart every dish. And knowing Spanish, the cooks would help with the rest.

Do you know how they flavored the seitan or was it a mix that P.F. Changs uses?

Seitan plain is not very good. I make ribz (vegan) from wheat gluten and peanut butter. I always have a bit around that I've used in other meat dishes.

Now I gotta try it chopped and wokked!