So unlike me, but every so often I’m looking for a quick and easy dinner! This hits all the notes with a delicious sauce, crunchy vegetables and the bright hit of those pickled vegetables – don’t skip them!
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 (3.5-ounce) package shiitake mushrooms, diced
- 1 carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 head butter lettuce
or
- stir fried vegetables
- cooked rice
FOR THE PEANUT SAUCE
- 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce, or more, to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
QUICK PICKLED VEGETABLES
- thinly sliced cucumbers & radishes
- salt
- vinegar (use what you have on hand, either white vinegar or rice wine vinegar
Thinly slice vegetables and place in non-reactive bowl. Sprinkle with a little salt and then just cover with vinegar. Set aside.
DIRECTIONS:
- To make the peanut sauce, whisk together peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, chili garlic sauce and ginger in a small bowl. Whisk in 2-3 tablespoons water until desired consistency is reached; set aside.
- Heat vegetable oil and sesame oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add ground chicken, mushrooms, carrot and shallot. Cook until browned, about 5-7 minutes, making sure to crumble the chicken as it cooks; drain excess fat.
- Stir in garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in hoisin sauce, chili garlic sauce and fish sauce until heated through, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat; stir in cilantro.
- To serve, spoon several tablespoons of the chicken mixture into the center of a lettuce leaf, taco-style, drizzled with peanut sauce.
I’ve adapted (translate copied, but give credit where it is due!) this to a rice bowl from a Damn Delicious recipe for lettuce wraps …. if you haven’t been over to her site, treat yourself and go review a few recipes. Needless to say we didn’t use carrots as Grant HATES cooked carrots so we just ignored that portion altogether. Use whatever vegetables you have on hand to supplement the chicken mixture to create a colourful, delicious bowl.
Get everything ready to go, this all comes together so quickly.
Brown the chicken, mushrooms, onions, garlic and ginger, then stir in the sauce.
Today’s vegetables were crunchy and delicious – use whatever you have on hand
This takes only a few minutes to come together, so have your vegetables ready to go, and your rice cooked so you can put it all in your bowl within 20-30 minutes.
The leftovers are amazing in these fresh, soft pita’s I made.