Chicken Lettuce Wraps

These lettuce wraps are delicious and fun to eat! This has been a very requested recipe amongst my friends and family.

In a food processor you need to purée 1/2 of a small sweet onion and 1 can of drained sliced water chestnuts. Set aside for later.

Heat 2 T. Canola oil with 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
over med/hi heat.
Add in this order;
Chopped chicken breast (I use 4)
Cook through until chicken turns white.
Add 1/3 c of soy sauce, 1/4 c rice vinegar, 2 T brown sugar, 1/2 tsp hoisin sauce, 1/4 tsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp crushed garlic, the sweet onion and water chestnut mixture, and a generous squirt of Korean chili paste. Stir until well blended and bring to a boil for about 7 minutes stirring constantly. Cut 1 bunch of green onion and add at the very end of cooking. Reserve a pinch for your dipping sauce.

Dipping sauce is equal parts of soy sauce and rice vinegar. Add a generous pinch of brown sugar and your remaining pinch of green onion. Add chili paste and garlic to your desired heat level.

Crispy rice noodles:
Heat canola oil in pan
Add Maifun (or whatever brand you prefer) rice sticks or noodles to oil until they get puffy. Remove and place on paper towel.

Spoon meat onto lettuce cups, top with crispy rice noodles. Roll and dip into sauce. ENJOY!!!

TIPS:

Most restaurants that you order this dish from will have mushrooms in it. If you must have mushroomsjust toss them in the food processor with your sweet onion and water chestnuts. I found that the mushrooms have no bearing on the flavor of this dish so I opt to save the money and exclude them.  :) 

Chicken Lo Mein

This is something that my family loves to eat!
Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts
4 T. canola oil
1 pound of spaghetti noodles
2 T. cornstarch
1/3 C. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. crushed garlic
1 tsp. rice vinegar
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 C. chicken broth
Desired amounts of the following:
julienne carrots
thinly sliced celery
shredded cabbage
cut green onion
sliced sweet onion

Directions:
Bring a pot of water to boil and add spaghetti noodles. Follow package directions for timing. Drain once noodles reach desired tenderness and set aside. Heat 2 T. oil in large skillet or wok over med/high heat. Cut chicken into bite size pieces, add to hot oil. Cook till meat turns white in color. Mix soy sauce with cornstarch and add to chicken. Coat chicken well then remove from pan. Set chicken aside and wipe your pan. Add remaining 2 T. canola oil and reheat wok over med/high heat. Add in this order each approximately 3 minutes apart, tossing constantly to prevent burning. Carrots, celery, sweet onions, cabbage, garlic, and then green onions. Add spaghetti noodles and chicken to wok, pouring chicken broth, ginger, and rice vinegar over noodles. Toss with veggies until well mixed. Taste and add more soy sauce to your liking. ENJOY!

TIPS:
To save prep time you can buy the bagged coleslaw mix. It has cabbage and carrots already shredded up and ready to use. This dish takes me around 45 minutes to make from start to finish. I do all my own shredding and chopping by hand though. Keep in mind that cabbage cooks down significantly when cooked. I leave the amount of the veggies open ended so you can add as much as you like. For example, we love lots of carrots, so I add around 2 cups to ours.