Chicken Lettuce Wraps – y’all!

Alright so I’ll admit right off the bat that Chicken Lettuce Wraps aren’t exactly Southern, which is why I added a “y’all” on the end of this post title. That just made it look like it fit better on Southern Plate, didn’t it? ~grins~ I knew you’d agree.

I’ve developed a raving addiction to these things. You see, Ricky and I don’t get to go out much. We’ve actually been out twice without the kids in the past four or five years. What we do instead is pick a night each week and eat a very light supper, then after we send the kids to bed one of us (he usually draws the short straw here) goes to get takeout for our dinner. A Chinese restaurant is very near us and chicken lettuce wraps are one of their signature dishes. This is one of those things that didn’t sound too appealing to me at first but my mother kept insisting that I try them and once I did, I was about as hooked on that as I was the first time I tried poutine.

However, shelling out the money for them on a regular basis got old quick and last night I just up and decided that I could make these little suckers myself. Never stand in the way of a woman when she “up and decides” to do something. I looked up several recipes online and they all seemed far too complicated for what I felt should be a simple recipe so I just set out to wing it on my own.

We found the finished product to be every bit as good, a little more filling, and a WHOLE lot cheaper than the restaurant version. Even Bradybug, at ten years old, gave these a resounding thumbs up. They easily made enough for four people and the cool thing is that I had enough filling leftover to eat one now as I write this. ~grins~

You’ll need: Rice sticks*, Soy Sauce, Small can Water Chestnuts, Brown Sugar, Mushrooms, Green Onions, and a head of lettuce.

*Rice sticks aren’t nearly as hard to find these days as they used to be. I just picked these up at the grocery store in the Asian foods section. These add a lot of “coolness” to the recipe if you let your kids watch you cook them. Okay, so I think they’re pretty cool, too! I’ve even included a video later in this post to show you how they work!

You’ll also need chicken. I am using 3 boneless, skinless breasts but this is an excellent recipe to use leftover chicken on. I’d also keep it in mind for turkey leftovers as well!

Place a tablespoon of oil in a skillet and add your chicken. Cook on medium heat, stirring often, until cooked through.

While the chicken is cooking we can assemble our other ingredients. Chop mushrooms up really fine.

Add water chestnuts and continue chopping.

Until it looks like this

Chop and add green onions.

To our brown sugar, add about 3 Tablespoons of soy sauce and stir that up well.

Once your chicken is cooked, dice it up well.

Place all of that back in the skillet.

ADD SAUCE

Stir and cook over medium heat just until heated through.

I didn’t picture me adding the sauce because that picture needed editing a bit and my computer and I are not getting along very well right now. In fact, I am seriously considering asking Santa to leave coal in it’s stocking.

~purses her lips and narrows her eyes at her computer~

This is the cool part.

Place about an inch or two of oil into a small pot. Heat on medium heat for several minutes before using.

Break off some rice noodles, make sure they are small enough that they will fit entirely in your pot. You don’t want any part not going in the first batch because it won’t cook.

As soon as you put them in they will bubble and then PUFF up like this.

The Coolness of Rice Sticks from Christy SouthernPlate.com on Vimeo.

This is SO cool in my mind that I even did a video of it to show you.

This post is just filled with neat tricks! See this head of lettuce with the stem in the middle?

Turn that over and get a good hold of it and hit it on the counter really hard, right on that stem.

and it will just pop right out!

like this.

Place chicken mixture on lettuce leaves and sprinkle crispy rice noodles on the top.

Fold that up and eat it like a taco.

MY GOODNESS THESE ARE GOOD!

This recipe made enough chicken lettuce wraps for four people.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps – Y’all

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (can substitute leftover ckn or turkey – about three cups)
• 3 green onions
• Small can water chestnuts
• 1 Cup mushrooms
• 2 T brown sugar
• 3 T Soy Sauce
• Rice Sticks and oil to cook them in
• Head of lettuce to serve them in

In large skillet, heat one tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add chicken, cut into pieces, and cook while stirring until cooked through. While chicken is cooking, finely dice mushrooms, water chestnuts, and green onions. Remove chicken from heat after it is done and dice.

Combine soy sauce and brown sugar, stir well. Add chicken, mushrooms, water chestnuts, and green onions back to skillet. Stir in sauce. Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through.

Rice Sticks:

Place one to two inches of oil in a small sauce pot. Heat over medium heat for several minutes. Break off  a handful of rice noodles and drop into pot, immediately removing to a paper towel lined plate when they puff up.

Serve chicken mixture in lettuce leaves, topped with crunchy rice noodles. Eat like a taco. Repeat as necessary .

Sometimes joy is the source of a smile-

sometimes your smile is the source of joy.

Submitted by Elaine. Submit yours by clicking here (and fuel up on a little encouragement while you’re at it!).

Posted by Christy Jordan on Nov 5 2009. Filed under Chicken, Main Course. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry