(Almost) P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps

The Wife was craving P.F. Chang's Sunday morning, but I didn't feel like making the trek down the Stony Point. I had to do the next best thing, bring her favorite thing there to her.

After looking around the web I found this recipe, and if it isn't 100% identical, it's pretty damn close. There's a fair amount of prep work - a lot of mincing, but it's well worth it. There are three parts; the marinade, the chicken filling and the cooking sauce.

Ingredients:

MARINADE
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons sherry wine or red wine
2 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons soy sauce
FILLING INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced small
5 tablespoons vegetable oil or peanut oil
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger or grated ginger
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1/2 cup green onions, minced
1 cup shiitake mushrooms, minced
1 (8 ounce) can bamboo shoots, minced
1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, minced
1 (6 ounce) package Chinese cellophane noodles, cooked to pkg. directions
COOKING SAUCE
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sherry wine or red wine
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch

And of course lettuce leaves.

Directions:

Mix the marinade and add the chicken. Stir to combine and let it marinade for 15 minutes. Put two tablespoons of peanut oil over medium high heat in a large, high sided pan, and stir-fry chicken for about 3 minutes, until cooked through. Remove chicken from pan.

Add two more tablespoons of oil and add green onion, ginger and garlic. Stir for 1-2 minutes and add bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and mushrooms. Stir for another two minutes and add chicken back to the pan. Stir to combine and add cooking sauce and cook until thickened.

To plate,break noodles apart and place on a large plate, and spoon filling on top of noodles. Serve in lettuce cups and spoon this sauce over it for a little kick.

Sauce for lettuce wraps:

The recipe that I found didn't have a dipping sauce with it, and The Mrs. was insistent on having a sauce. I dug around a little more and found the dipping sauce here.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup sugar ( I used splenda)

1/2 cup water

2T soy sauce

2T rice vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)

2T ketchup

1T lemon juice

1/8t sesame oil

2T Chili Sauce (I use Srirachi)

1T Chinese Hot Mustard Powder (I used hot mustard, rather than powder)

Whisk ingredients, and refrigerate leftovers.