Barbecued Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Source: Rachael Ray

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 15 min.

Cook Time: 10 min.

Total Time: 25 min.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups, 4 handfuls, fresh shiitake mushrooms (I just used regular fresh mushrooms)
• 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 pounds thin cut chicken breast or chicken tenders
• 2 tablespoons light colored oil, such as vegetable oil or peanut oil
• Coarse salt and coarse black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 inch ginger root, finely chopped or grated, optional
• 1 orange, zested
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced small
• 1 small tin, 6 to 8 ounces, sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 3 tablespoons hoisin, Chinese barbecue sauce, available on Asian foods aisle of market
• 1/2 large head iceberg lettuce, core removed, head quartered
• Wedges of navel orange -- platter garnish

Directions:

1. Remove tough stems from mushrooms and brush with damp towel to clean, Slice mushrooms. Chop chicken into small pieces.
2. Preheat a large skillet or wok to high.
3. Add oil to hot pan. Add chicken to the pan and sear meat by stir frying a minute or two.
4. Add mushrooms and cook another minute or two. Add salt and pepper to season, then garlic and ginger. Cook a minute more.
5. Grate zest into pan, add bell pepper bits, chopped water chestnuts and scallions. Cook another minute, continuing to stir fry mixture.
6. Add hoisin Chinese barbecue sauce and toss to coat the mixture evenly.
7. Transfer the hot chopped barbecued chicken to serving platter and pile the quartered wedges of crisp iceberg lettuce along side. Add wedged oranges to platter to garnish.
8. To eat, pile spoonfuls into lettuce leaves, wrapping lettuce around fillings and squeeze an orange wedge over.

Comments:

Scott and I were craving something light (and low-carb!) the other day, and lettuce wraps sounded like the perfect thing! We made our Thai Glazed Chicken Lettuce Wraps, but wanted to experiment with another recipe for a little variety. This Chinese recipe was really good, sweet with the hoisin sauce and citrusy with the orange zest, but overall, I think I like the flavor of the Thai recipe a little better. Still really yummy and healthy, though!

(Side note on Thai lettuce wrap recipe: I was able to find Thai fish sauce in the Asian section at the grocery store, so I used it in the recipe this time around. I was really worried when I gagged after sniffing the bottle, but surprisingly, just the one tablespoon of the stuff made ALL the difference in the world. . .I liked the recipe before, but this was SO much better! The fish sauce balanced out the basil really well and gave it that distinct Thai flavor.)