Lettuce Wraps

My kids love, love, love lettuce wraps. It's what they always order first when we go to PF Chang's. Here's my version, quick to make for those nights when eating in is a necessity. Traditionally, lettuce wraps are made with ground chicken, which can be hard to find. I've use readily available ground turkey.

Ingredients:

12 large lettuce leaves, like butter or bibb lettuce
1 pound ground turkey
1 cup chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp red chili flakes
1 Tbs low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 Tbs rice wine vinegar
1 8 oz can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
3 green onions, both white and green parts, thinly sliced
2 tsp sesame oil

Directions:

Wash lettuce leaves, leaving them whole, then pat dry with a very clean towel. Arrange attractively on a plate.

Heat a large non stick skillet over medium heat. Add ground turkey, stirring to break into small pieces. Add onion, garlic, ginger, cayenne, and chili flakes and cook until the turkey turns from pink to light brown. Add the soy sauce, hoisin, vinegar, and cook for about two more minutes, until the sauce starts to thicken and the turkey turns brown. Add the water chestnuts and green onions and cook an additional minute for them to warm. Remove from heat and stir in the sesame oil. Spoon the turkey mixture into a serving bowl.

Serve the lettuce leaves alongside  the turkey mixture. Allow each person to spoon some of the turkey mixture into the middle of a lettuce leaf. Fold the leaf, eat, and enjoy!

Serves 4

Stealthy Cooking Tip: I buy ground turkey breast, as it's more lean. The cost per pound becomes quite affordable when I buy 5 pounds at a time. I can't usually use that much ground meat at once, so I make patties, freeze them individually, then store them in the freezer in a dated Ziploc freezer bag. Each patty is about 1/4 pound. I can either cook up patties as burgers, or get out several to use in ground turkey recipes. Frozen ground meats keep for about 3 months in the freezer.