Recipe:
Chicken in Lettuce Cups
Serves 4-6
- 1-2 Dried Shitake Mushroom (Asian Food Aisle)
- 1/4 Cup Diced Carrots
- 1/4 Cup Diced Celery
- 1/4 Cup Bamboo Shoots (Canned)
- 1/4 Cup Water Chestnut (Canned)
- 1/8 Cup Sliced White Onions
- 1/4 Cup Diced Zucchini
- 1-2 Boneless Chicken Breasts
- 1 Head of Lettuce (Iceberg, Butter or Romaine)
- 3 Tbs. Cooking Oil or Sesame Oil
- Soy Sauce (To taste)
- White Pepper (To taste)
- Plum Sauce (Asian Food Aisle)
1. Place chicken in boiling water till fully cooked.
Tip: Much easier to dice chicken into small pieces when cooked.
2. Place 1-2 dried mushrooms into a bowl of hot water and let it sit for a few minutes, until soft.
3. Wash then finely dice bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, zucchini, onions, carrots, mushrooms and celery. (To save time, put ingredients in a food chopper, kids really like this part)
4. Take the cooked chicken and finely chop.
5. In a heated wok, pour in the oil and add the finely diced vegetable and stir for a 2-3 minutes. Then add the minced chicken.
6. Add the soy sauce and white pepper to taste.
Prepare the lettuce wraps:
7. Take the head of lettuce and cut off the bottom. Rinse then peel back the lettuce leaves one at a time. Take a pair of scissors and cut around the end of the lettuce leaf to form a round cup.
8. Pour some plum sauce in a bowl.
9. To assemble, spread some plum sauce on a lettuce cup. Fill leaf with the chicken mixture and serve!
Optional:
Vegetarian: Omit chicken and substitute eggplant, string beans or colorful bell peppers
Seafood: Omit chicken and substitute with shrimp, crab, or scallops
Chef Shan-Shan started a blog since her friends were requesting recipes all the time. Read her blog at cookingwithshan.blogspot.com.
Bamboo Garden Restaurant
301 Visitacion Avenue
Brisbane, CA 94005
415-467-5370
The restaurant also caters and hosts parties.
www.bamboogardenbrisbane.com
Bamboo Garden was opened 6 years ago by Shan-Shan Chen. Her family has owned and operated many Chinese Restaurants in the bay area for the past 30 years. As a working mother of two, it is very important for Shan-Shan to pass down her families Chinese traditions and recipes to her children as well as incorporate the American culture into the food that they prepare and serve.
Shan-Shan is currently working on a series of "Come Cooking with Mei-Mei" Children's story books that incorporates Chinese cooking along with telling a story about a Chinese tradition with a modern twist.
