Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Yum. Very yum. Quadruple yum here.

Pinterest strikes again. We had these today for dinner today and MAN, they're beyond tasty. Next time we make them I think we'll double it and go lettuce wrap crazy. They were that good.

Usually I try to stick to simple ingredients, but when you're cooking up some Chinese/Japanese goodness, you've gotta splurge at least once on a few ingredients: sesame oil and rice vinegar. These made the difference in the overall taste of the wraps. Whenever I look over Chinese/Japanese recipes, I often find these two listed in the ingredients. Might as well buy them once, and use them for 20+ nights of yummy Asian-inspired dinners, eh?

The other ingredients aren't too out-of-the-way (except for the cashews, maybe). I added rice to give the wraps a little more filling - or to just eat on the side with some soy sauce drizzled.

Also, this is the first time I've purchased, and used fresh ginger root. When I peeled the outside layers away, the smell was incredible. I thought maybe it would taste good.... I took a little taste and BAM, kinda strong and spicy. Yikes. Won't do that one again. I still have a ton of ginger root left, and I'm trying to figure out what I should do with it. I'm going to have to hit up some blogs and find some ideas. 

-----

Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps

"Ingredients

For stir fry sauce:
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (I added 2 tablespoons, I'm a brown sugar addict)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil 

For Cashew Chicken:
• 2 chicken breasts (about 3/4 lb. total), diced
• 8 leaves of greenleaf or iceburg lettuce
• 3 tablespoons canola oil (or oil of choice)
• 1 cup onion, diced (I had a pretty big onion, so I only used about half - it was plenty)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup cashews, chopped (I used about 3/4 cup chopped cashews, definitely worth it)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Mix all ingredients for the stir fry sauce making sure to dissolve brown sugar. Set aside.
2. Heat canola oil in pan over medium to medium high heat. Add diced chicken and brown (about 4-5 minutes). Remove chicken from oil. Add onions, garlic and 1 teaspoon soy sauce to pan; brown. When onions and garlic are brown and tender, add stir fry sauce, browned chicken, and cashews. Saute mixture for a few minutes and remove from heat.  
3. Spoon chicken mixture into individual lettuce leaves. Add your favorite hot sauce, more cashews or basil. "

 ------

Recipe and Pic source: shewearsmanyhats.com