I am reallllly upset that this recipe happened to be one of the many that was deleted off my hard drive during the disaster that occured a few weeks ago : / Not only is this recipe fantastic, but I took some really great photos! Some seriously appealing photos…. I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it that these were delicious and visually appetizing ; )
I had never tried a Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wrap before this. Frankly, the idea was a little strange to me. I mean, I am used to “wrapping” things in some sort of flour wrap, not in lettuce… but I knew that this was quite popular, especially after seeing it appear in Food Network Magazine’s Almost Famous recipe page from P.F. Chang’s. I was tempted to try that recipe since it has a 5 star rating on their website. But! I had just gotten a recent issue of Cooks Illustrated that featured the dish, and I just can’t say no to a good CI recipe!
To create the perfect texture for the chicken, Cooks Illustrated has you partially freeze the chicken and then food process it to create small, chunky pieces. This is their alternative choice to using shredded chicken or grond chicken. I think it’s genius and it works out perfectly. Not to mention that it is a simple technique that makes a big difference. I have one confession however- I used chicken breast. I just can’t do the dark meat thing. It makes me gag.
The steps to this recipe are really very easy in regards to a Chinese dish taken on by the usually complex Cooks Illustrated authors. As you can see from the recipe, the whole thing comes together in five fairly short steps. Something you hardly ever see from CI. And the best part is the flavor comes out phenomenal. Flavor and texture are just the perfect pair in this recipe- the crunchiness from the lettuce and water chestnuts, versus the tenderness of the chicken and mushrooms. And if you want to shake things up, you can do what I did and top it all off with some hoisin sauce and crunchy lo mein noodles. YUM!
- Chicken:
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 tsp chinese rice wine or dry sherry
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- Sauce:
- 3 Tb oyster sauce
- 1 Tb chinese rice wine or dry sherry
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- ½ tsp sugar
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- Stir-Fry:
- 2 Tb vegetable oil
- 2 celery ribs, cut into ¼-inch pieces
- 6 oz shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced thin
- ½ cup water chestnuts, cut into ¼-inch pieces
- 2 scallions, white parts minced, green parts sliced thin
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 head Bibb lettuce (8 oz), washed and dried, leaves separated and left whole
- Hoisin Sauce
- For the Chicken: Place chicken pieces on large plate in single layer. Freeze meat until firm and starting to harden around edges, about 20 minutes.
- Whisk rice wine, soy sauce, oil, and cornstarch together in bowl. Pulse half of meat in food processor until coarsely chopped into ¼-to-1/8-inch pieces, about 10 pulses. Transfer meat to bowl with rice wine mixture and repeat with remaining chunks. Toss chicken to coat and refrigerate 15 minutes.
- For the Sauce: Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
- For the Stir-Fry: Heat 1 Tb oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until smoking. Add chicken and cook, stirring constantly, until opaque, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to bowl and wipe out skillet.
- Heat remaining 1 Tb oil in now empty skillet over high heat until smoking. Add celery and mushrooms; cook, stirring constantly, until mushrooms have reduced in size by half and celery is crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add water chestnuts, scallion whites, and garlic; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Whisk sauce to recombine. return chicken to skillet; add sauce and toss to combine. Spoon into lettuce leaves and sprinkle with scallion greens. Serve, passing hoisin sauce separately.
adapted from Cooks Illustrated
