Chinese lettuce wraps
This dish seems intimidating to make and it does take a while, but the steps are fairly straightforward. I had a variant of this dish for the first time recently, and I really enjoyed the flavor combination and textural contrast of the dish. This particular set of ingredients leans more towards southern Chinese flavors, but you could really substitute whatever ingredients that you want. Bell peppers, pine nuts, peanuts, really add whatever you want / have. As long as you have the water chestnut / jicama to give it that crisp crunch and some kind of meat, the world is your oyster. This recipe was taken from Susanna Yu's smelly.lunchbox -- definitely recommend checking her site out!
Active Time: 45 min
Total Time: 45 min
Ingredients
Ground pork marinade:
> ground pork (4 oz)
> Shaoxing wine (1/2 tsp)
> soy sauce (1/2 tsp)
> salt (1/4 tsp)
> sugar (1/4 tsp)
> white pepper
Filling sauce mixture:
> soy sauce (1/2 tbsp)
> oyster sauce (1/2 tbsp)
> sugar (1/2 tsp)
> salt (1/4 tsp)
> white pepper
> sesame oil (1/2 tbsp)
Everything else:
> water chestnut (8 oz)
> Chinese sausage (2)
> onion (1/4)
> dried shrimp (1.5 oz)
> scallions (3 stalks, separate white and green parts)
> ginger (1 inch, minced)
> iceberg lettuce (1 head)
> hoisin sauce
Instructions
1. Re-hydrate the dried shrimp in warm water, and let it hydrate for at least 20 minutes (while you prep all the other ingredients)
2. Marinade the ground pork by mixing together all the ingredients: ground pork, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, salt, sugar, white pepper.
3. Prepare the iceberg lettuce by pounding the stem on your cutting board a few times -- this should loosen it and make it easier to remove the leaves. Submerge the lettuce in a bowl of water, and gently remove the leaves, one by one. Rinse each leaf under running water. Optionally, cut them into round lettuce cup shapes.
4. Prep the filling ingredients by finely chopping everything into similar sizes: water chestnut, Chinese sausage, onion, dried shrimp, scallions. (mince the ginger)
5. In a large pan or wok, saute onion, scallion whites, and ginger for several minutes. Add the pork, and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until no longer pink. Then repeat this same process with the sausage, dried shrimp, and finally water chestnut.
6. Add the filling sauce mixture. Mix well, taste, and adjust to your preference. Set aside.
7. Serve by adding filling into a lettuce cup and topping with a light drizzle of hoisin sauce. Enjoy!
Notes/Tips:
> Ground pork and Chinese sausage generally has pretty substantial fat content and will release their fat into the pan as they cook. Don't add too much neutral oil initially when cooking the filling.
> Restaurants will often cut the lettuce into round cup shapes for ease of adding filling and presentation. You can certainly do that, but I didn't feel like doing it (and hence my lettuce leaves weren't quite as aesthetic)
> You could also substitute jicama for the water chestnut. They have a similar texture and flavor profile. I happened to have a can of water chestnuts, so I used that. Prepping jicama is a bit more work.