When P.F. Chang met Kylie Kwong?

in my kitchen…it was magic of flavors and these Chicken Lettuce Wraps were born!

I am a die hard fan of Kylie Kwong, the aussie chinese chef and her show Heart and Soul has been one of my favourite shows on discovery fine living till date since my teeny weeny days.The show has a nice sensual feel to it that is unusual for a cooking show. I like the background music, I like the way she street walks the lanes of her Chinese home town,the way food is photographed, the fresh ingredients,the monotone lightening hues, the camera angles,the way her fingers handle the food & chopsticks.. really graceful indeed.It never looked like a pre-taped show. I love her…if that interests  you check out her official page here.

Soon after coming to USA, me and P,two hard-core chinese food fans,were on a look out for chinese restaurants.Chinese is probably the only cuisine where our tastes match and the decision to eat out is jovial.On all other occasions while he wants to eat Thai, I m craving for pizza or if he wants american,I wanna slurp dal-rice During those initial days when every other day we were eating out and google was panting after repeated searches,P.F. Chang’s popped up as one of the best chinese restaurant in the town.We decided to try just by looking at the menu.It was lip smacking!Its been a year and a half since then and like all greedy foodies we still go to P.F Chang’s every alternate weekend to devour the delicious stuff.No prizes for guessing that we have exhausted the menu

I wanted to make these lettuce wraps for a long time…the other day I watched a Kylie Kwong video where she made five spiced turkey with bamboo shoots and served it with lettuce..it was simply mouthwatering…I cudnt control myself from going in the next day to grocery store and buying all the stuff…and marry off the taste from P.F Chang’s hit recipe to Kwong’s fine cuisine..it was magic in the kitchen! I felt down under in the lanes of china standing right in my american kitchen…if you know what I mean.

There is something about the art of chinese food..the spice blends, the cooking techniques, the equipments, the seasonings and marinade..everything exchanges vows well together to make for a balanced taste and flavor.The best part being that the dishes do not require complex and complicated techniques..simplicity being the key…be it stir fry, steaming, boiling or roasting.I do maintain that the way indo-chinese has developed and the adapted itself to suit the local palate is commendable.The classic example of such is the Manchurian…you will not find any dish by that name in any corner of China, but in India, even a road side chowmein valla has a vegetable or a chicken manchurian on its menu.Whenever I m cooking chinese,my indian roots always come into picture and the spice blends are affected by it.Its so normal to do so.

This is a typical chinese lettuce wrap recipe, except that I have not used water chestnut as a personal preference and added a lot of different other vegetables.Also I avoided a bed of fried rice noodles to keep it healthy..you can choose to include them if you wish so.

What I need:

2 chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
2 tbsp bamboo shoots, finely chopped
1/4 cup red & green bell pepper
3 tbsp button mushrooms, finely chopped
2 tbsp zucchini,chopped
3 tbsp carrots,chopped
1/4 cup onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 tbsp sesame oil
7-8 leaves ice berg lettuce

For the topping sauce:

3 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp mustard paste [adjust to taste]
1 fresh red chilli paste [adjust to taste]
1 tsp garlic paste

For the stir fry sauce

2 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar

How to prepare the lettuce cups :

Wash the lettuce head properly with cold water.
Using a sharp knife, remove the hard stem of the whole lettuce head.
Dunk the lettuce head in ice-cold water for at least 30 minutes.This will allow the water to enter the layers of leaves and loosen them.
Once ice-cold, gently peel off or separate individual lettuce leaves from the head.
Keep the leaves refrigerated till ready to serve.

How I did it:

In a large pan, bring water on high heat to a boil.Once boiling, saute the chicken breasts for 3-5 minutes per side or till done.
Remove the chicken breasts from the pan and let it cool.When the chicken is cooled, either mince it or chop it into fine chunks.Set aside.
Meanwhile,in a small bowl combine all the ingredients for the ‘topping sauce’.
Mix well and refrigerate this sauce till before you are ready to serve.
In a pan on high heat, add 1 tbsp of oil, and add the minced garlic & ginger and saute for 30 seconds.Next, add the onions and cook for about 2 minutes.Add the chicken chunks and rest of the vegetables [except lettuce].Add a pinch of salt and stir fry for 3-4 minutes.

Next add all the ingredients of the stir-fry sauce to the pan,mix well and saute for a couple of minutes.Remove fom heat.
Whenever ready to serve, scoop the chicken mixture in the lettuce”cups” and top with the topping sauce.

Note:

For the vegetarian version, you can use tofu or minced soya.

Go and try this ..Enjoy!



Stir Fry Chicken Lettuce Wraps