Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Hi All! So today we have some pretty chicken lettuce wraps for you. We’re trying to keep things a little lighter this week (okay, so chicken lettuce wraps might not be the most healthy thing, but since its wrapped in cups of lettuce, it’s pretty much considered healthy to me). Anyway, back to trying to be healthy…we’re doing this for one reason…because next week we’re jumping into a deep fry fest of sorts to prep for the big game…and lets be serious, game day is ALL about the food and booze!

Again, these lettuce cups are great. Don’t let the long list of ingredients intimidate you. This dish is actually very easy and doesn’t take much time to throw together. We opted for butter lettuce, bc maybe there was an incident of me forcing Teri to help me in the kitchen by breaking apart a head of iceberg to make lettuce cups and maybe instead we ended up with a chopped salad of iceberg instead of the cups..…just maybe You take your pick, both totally work great for this dish. Enjoy!
xx Jenny

Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
cooking sauce:
2 ½ tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
2 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon sesame oil

6 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ginger, peeled and minced
4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed and diced
½ cup bamboo shoots, drained and diced
½ cup water chestnuts, drained and diced
2 green onions, thinly sliced

1 head butter lettuce or iceberg lettuce, washed and leaves separated
garnish:
1 green onion, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

1. Place the first five ingredients into a small bowl and whisk together. Pour mixture over the chicken and stir together. Set aside and allow chicken to marinate for 10 minutes.
2. Place all ingredients for cooking sauce into a small bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
3. Place 2 tablespoons oil into a large skillet over high heat. Sauté chicken for 6 to 8 minutes or until half cooked. Remove from skillet and set aside.
4. Pour remaining oil into the same skillet and place over high heat. Sauté the ginger, garlic and shiitake mushrooms for about 5 minutes. Add the bamboo shoots and water chestnuts and sauté for an additional 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Add chicken back into the skillet; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Pour the cooking sauce over the mixture and stir together. Lower the heat to medium and allow the mixture to thicken, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in the green onions. Adjust seasonings.
6. Remove from heat and allow chicken mixture to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Top with a sprinkle of green onions and sesame seed and serve warm with crisp lettuce cups.