Super China Market is an Asian market (actually an Asian SUPER market) in Sandy and is a wonderland of Asian riches. There are so many sauces, noodles, hard-to-find ingredients and so many inspirations for dinner. Now it’s time for an Asian-food cooking frenzy.
Asian food is great for so many reasons: it is incredibly flavorful, fresh-tasting and can also be pretty quick to make. Lettuce wraps are always a light and satisfying option at many Asian restaurants (side note: try the lettuce wraps at Sushi Blue, they’re fantastic) but this dish is not a regular in my kitchen. But it should be! Armed with a full supply of sesame oil, I decided to make them for dinner one night. In under 30 minutes, I had a healthy dinner on the table that will be a new favorite in our house.
As with most of my recipes, you can adjust to suit your tastes. Make it spicier if you like and adjust the vegetables in it. Mushrooms and boc choy would be nice additions or substitutions for the carrot. Spinach is nice extra health for health benefits but it’s not essential to the dish. Basil could be substituted for the cilantro and lime juice could be exchanged for the rice vinegar. It would be hard to mess this up, so play around with it.
If you prep all the ingredients and have everything ready to go, you can just cook it right before you are ready to serve. If you want to turn this into a heartier meal, serve it with steamed jasmine rice on the side. This dish is fun because you get to eat it with your hands. If you worry about gluten a plus is it’s free of it. There is a ton of flavor and it will impress your friends if you choose to share it.
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon garlic chili sauce
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3-inch piece ginger, minced
- ½ red onion, finely diced
- 1 pound ground chicken (I like lean, 99% fat-free)
- 1 cup grated carrot
- 1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, drained and chopped small
- 1/2 cup sliced green onions (from about 6 green onions), divided
- ½ cup cilantro leaves
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 2 small heads Bibb lettuce
Instructions
- Mix together the sauce: Combine the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and garlic chili sauce in a small bowl. Whisk to combine
- Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger and red onion and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent. Add the chicken and cook until the meat is no longer pink. Add the carrots, water chestnuts, green onion, cilantro and spinach and stir to combine. Toss in the bean sprouts and add the sauce and mix until well combined.
- To serve, break off all the lettuce leaves and layer then on the sides of a platter with the chicken mixture in the middle. Use the leaves as a serving vehicle for the chicken mixture.
