The Best Asian Lettuce Wraps

This summer I  made lettuce wraps a lot.  My garden was running over with lettuce, kale, chard, tomatoes, and a lot of other delicious vegetables.  I discovered this recipe a few years ago.  They said it was a P.F. Chang copycat, but since I've never had those, I didn't have anything to compare it to.  All I know is that these lettuce wraps are fantastic! Even with taking out the bean sprouts and the mushrooms!  

When my two granddaughters stopped in one time after I made these for dinner, I gave them a few wraps, and right away the older one said, "Grandma this is what I want you to make for my birthday this year!"  That's quite a compliment from a 13 year old!!  

Besides the adjustments I made, I also added a few things like some cilantro and brown rice.  The recipe came with a dipping sauce, but I had some jars of sweet chili sauce I needed to use, and they were perfect!  This recipe can be modified by adding different vegetables. It was delicious with some Asian bok choy soup and fruit. 

 Copycat Asian Lettuce Wraps

1.  Prepare vegetables:  Mince ½ of a yellow onion, grate 2 carrots, mince 2 cloves of garlic, finely slice 3 green onions, chop up 1/3 cup of cilantro, and chop up 1 4 oz. can of water chestnuts.

 2.  Meanwhile cook 1 cup of brown rice.

 3.  Brown 1 pound of organic ground turkey; when almost done add the onion and cook for a few minutes.  Then add the grated carrots and garlic and cook for 1 or 2 minutes more. 

 4.  In a large bowl put the browned ground turkey and vegetables.  To that add the sliced green onions and  cilantro.  Then stir in the brown rice and mix well.

 5.  Seasoning:  In a measuring cup put ¼ cup of tamari/soy sauce, 1 T coconut sugar, 1 T rice vinegar, and 2 tsp. of sesame oil.  Pour over the bowl of meat and vegetables and mix well.  Put in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

 6.  Wash lettuce leaves and arrange on a platter. 

 7.  Put a small Chinese soup spoon into the meat and rice mixture so people can make their own.  Let people top their lettuce wrap with some sweet chili sauce.   These are so good. 

 Note:  The original recipe called for mushrooms, and bean sprouts and a special dipping sauce. I substituted cilantro and brown rice, and made the sweet chili sauce the dipping sauce to make it easy.

Other Chinese recipes on this blog:


CHICKEN RECIPES:

Gluten Free Garlic Chicken Stir-Fry  (Modification of Internet recipe)
Gluten Free Chinese - Chicken Broccoli Stir-Fry  (Modification of Internet recipe)
Gluten Free Chinese - Authentic Chinese BBQ Chicken  (From my Bible Study friend Rose)
Rose's Chinese Yellow Curry with Chicken & Vegetables  (From my Bible Study friend Rose)
Gluten Free Chinese - Fantastic Soy Sauce Chicken  (Modification of Internet recipe)
Rose's Authentic Stir-Fried Chicken & Vegetables (Made Gluten Free!)
Gluten Free Sweet & Sour Chicken (From my daughter-in-law's family cookbook)
Authentic Chinese Chicken & Leek Stir Fry  (Shared with me by a Chinese student's mother)

TOFU RECIPES:
My Asian Student's Favorite Tofu & Vegetable Stir-Fry  (Modification of Internet recipe)
Orange "Beef" Tofu Stir- Fry  (Modification of Internet recipe)

FISH RECIPES:
Steamed Scallion Ginger Fish with Stir-Fried Bok Choy  (Modification of Internet recipe)
Fantastic Mahi & Vegetable Stir Fry   (Modification of Internet recipe)
Tasty Gluten Free Sweet & Sour Fish  (From my daughter-in-law's family reunion cookbook)

NOODLES & RICE:
Gluten Free Chinese Fried Rice    (From my Come & Dine Cookbook)
The Cheung's Gluten Free Chow Mien  (My Bible study friend Rose taught me this)

 Soups

My Favorite Chinese Chicken Soups  - Bok choy chicken, chicken & spinach, and chicken & cabbage (Modified from Internet search by our Chinese students)
Make Your Own Gluten Free Chicken Pho!  (Modified from a newspaper article)
Gluten Free Chinese Hot Pot  (Modified by a Chinese student)
Chinese Egg Drop Soup  &  Chinese Egg & Tomato Soup  (Modified  from a student's recipe)

Vegetarian & Gluten Free Tom Yum Soup (A delicious Thai soup) 
Deluxe Miso Soup (Kenchinjiru)   (Adapted from Internet search)
A Thai Mom Teaches Me How to Make Tom Yum Kung  (A student's mom's recipe)
A Vietnamese Cooking Lesson - Lien's Vietnamese Sweet & Sour Soup  (An International student's aunt's recipe)
Cooking Beef Pho for Vietnamese Students  (Modified Recipe)
Asian Curried Chicken Soup  (From my Come & Dine church cookbook)
Rose's Very Own Recipe for Chinese Beef Bone Soup  (from Rose my friend from Taipei)

SALAD RECIPES
Gluten Free Chinese Chicken Cabbage Salad  (From my Heritage School Cookbook)
Rose's Refreshing Cucumber Salad  (From a Bible study friend)