Lettuce wrap this up

If summer isn’t lettuce wrap season, what is! HUH!? Sorry, I just feel very strongly about quick easy meals that are delicious and fresh.

Crunchy should be designated as an emotion. I love biting into crisp and crunchy vegetables - stuff it with some saute, and a squeeze of lime to bring down the fattiness of the meat — we have ourselves a winner.

You know me, everything I make is all about versatility. Switch out this protein to tofu, pork, mushroom, whatever you like. Let’s get to cooking!

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Prep:

• Prep time: 10 mins

• Cook time: 8-10 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef

• 1 medium head of green lettuce (I also love butter lettuce)

• 1/2 medium onion chopped

• 1/2 cup thawed or fresh mixed vegetables ( I use peas and carrot mix, you could add bell peppers too)

• 1/4 cup cilantro chopped

• 2 stalks of green onions chopped

• 1/2 cup corn (optional)

• 3 red raddish finely sliced (optional)

• 4 cloves garlic finely diced

• 2 tbsp oyster sauce (optional)

• 1 tbsp dark or double soy sauce. (More concentrated and robust in flavor than regular soy)

• 1-2 tbsp cooking oil

• 1/2 a lime

• salt to taste
  

Recipe:

Start by heating a wok or pan on high, add oil, and wait till it starts to smoke. Add the onions and vegetables now and saute for 2 minutes, until the onions start to brown. A good sign to know it’s browning is when the edges of the onion start to crisp up.

Throw in the garlic now, and saute for just a minute until it’s golden brown. You don’t want to cook garlic more than that or it takes on a slightly bitter aftertaste. Add the ground meat and break it up with your spatula.

Once the meat is granular, bring down the heat to medium-high, and let the meat cook for another 2 minutes, then add the soy and oyster sauce and cook for another 2 minutes.

Pro tip: Using dark or double soy sauce adds more to stir fry and fried rice than regular soy sauce. With added molasses, double dark soy sauce is stronger in flavor and adds a rich color to your food.

For the last minute of cooking, turn up the heat to high and add half of the cilantro and green onions to it. Finish it with a generous squeeze of lime and salt to taste.

Change the protein!

This recipe works really well with tofu too. Since tofu has a soft flavor profile, use finely diced mushroom to add more flavor and that meat like umami.

And for some crunch, I flash deep fried some rice vermicelli!

For lunch or dinner on your patio, this is a perfect recipe for interactive and communal eating. Get fancy with it, add some sides like, hot sauce, kimchi, etc. Korean banchan always inspires me in how flavors can be built, so experiment with flavors!