Lettuce Wraps

It's been at least six years since I had 'Chang's Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps' at P.F. Changs and yet I still remember how delicious the savory filling wrapped in crisp fresh lettuce cups was - so I thought, I have to try this at home.

Since it has been so long I cannot truly say whether or not this came out exactly the same or not, but the idea was definitely similar.  I like that you can choose how much or little filling and dipping sauce to put on your lettuce wrap.  I also made this easily meat friendly by separately frying a chicken breast fillet, food processing it, then blending it with half the vegetarian mixture.

P.F. Chang's Style Lettuce Wraps
serves 2 as a starter

filling
1 cup water chestnuts
2/3 cup mushrooms
1 small onion - chopped
2 garlic cloves - chopped

2 tbsps soy sauce
2 tbsps brown sugar
1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar

'special sauce'
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tbsps light soy sauce
2 tbsps rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp lemon juice
few drops sesame oil
thin sliced chili (optional)
garlic puree (optional)
hot mustard (optional)

1 tbsp oil 

lettuce leaves - washed and separated (I used baby gem but you could use iceberg or any crispy lettuce)

Mix together all ingredients for 'special sauce', refrigerate til ready to eat - you can add chili slices, garlic puree, or hot mustard to amp up the flavor if you like before serving.  Put all vegetable filling ingredients in food processor and pulse until everything is the same size (finely minced).  Mix together filling sauce (soy sauce, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar).  Heat 1 tbsp oil in frying pan, add vegetable mix and filling sauce and fry together for a few minutes until some moisture has evaporated and it has warmed through.  Put about a tablespoon of mixture into each leaf and dip into sauce as desired.