For the love of Thai

...Pad Thai! And lettuce wraps! It was a Valentines Day get together and we love asian food. So off to our new beginning we go :)

The lettuce wraps were used as an appetizer. Pad Thai is filling and the night was meant to be drawn out so the light and spiciness of the wraps was a perfect start to the evening. I use Romaine lettuce for the wraps because they have a better nutritional value than iceberg and the center rib is very study for the ease of those who partake. There are two sauces to be made for the filling of the wraps. Make in either order, but keep them separated.  First, the stir fry sauce:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Mix all until the sugar is dissolved completely. I use a whisk to help this process along. Set aside.

Now prepare your Special Sauce. It has been recommended that you make this sauce and use it only when served to sprinkle over the top. I prefer to cook it into your vegetables and chicken. If left long enough on a simmer your other ingredients will absorb the sauce.

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon hot or spicy mustard

2 teaspoons water

1 -2 teaspoon garlic and red chile sauce

Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl. Next add the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil. Set aside. In another small bowl combine the hot water with the hot mustard. Now you can set both of these aside to pour over after or you can combine them together (which is what I do) and set aside until ready to add to your chicken and vegetables. Add your desired measurement of garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture. Again, I use a whisk to combine all these ingredients, otherwise it is clumpy mostly due to the consistency of the mustard and ketchup. 

Now for your main ingredients:

3 tablespoons oil

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 cup water chestnuts

2/3 cup diced mushrooms

3 tablespoons chopped onions

1 teaspoon minced garlic

4 -5 leaves lettuce

Begin by dicing your water chestnuts and bamboo shoots - which are harder to dice because of their fiberous stringy texture. Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or til they are cooked thru. Remove chicken from the pan and cool. Keep oil in the pan, whatever may be left of it, hot. As chicken cools mince mushrooms to about the size of small peas. Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl. When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts are. With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp or two of vegetable oil. Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and mushrooms to the pan. Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes. Finally add your special sauce to the pan if this is the direction you want to take, as opposed to serving it over the top. Cook this sauce down for several minutes. All of your meat and veggies will absorb all of the sauce if you give it time. I leave mine slightly juicy because it needs that consistency for when you reheat the leftovers to avoid drying it out. Serve your filling in the romaine lettuce leaves. I roll mine like burritos. Enjoy!!!