Cooking Corner - Thai Lettuce Wraps

Hey Y'all! I haven't done one of these in a while and I am feeling lazy as hell today so I am going to post a recipe that is one of my all time favorites. Its pretty low carb. I eat Thai Beef Salad all the time, but I love eating it like this.

 

1 lb of Ground Sirloin (any ground beef will work, but sirloin is the same as steak and it tends to produce very little grease while still maintaining a steak like flavor)
1 English (hot house) Cucumber (any cucumber will do I just prefer hot house cukes)
2 Medium Tomatos
1 Bunch Fresh Cilantro
1 Medium Red Onion
1 (or more) heads of Romain or Bibb Lettuce (washed and drained, pat dry if necessary)
Salt
Pepper

Dressing:

4 to 8 Tbs of Fresh Lime Juice (about 3 small or 2 medium sized limes)
8 Tbs Fish Sauce (sometimes available in the ethnic section of your supermarket, definitely available at any asian grocer)
1/2 Tbs Sugar (Thai Palm Sugar is the best, hard to find though. Brown Sugar works too) - since WLS I have cut this out and we don't miss it!
2 – 4 Thai Chili Peppers (you can get these at an Asian grocer) You can also use Serrano peppers, I’ve done this a number of times and it comes out great. Jalapenos work too, but Jalapenos have a distinct flavor which I feel alters the dish, but then again I have eaten a LOT of Yum Nua)
Thai Crushed Pepper (this ain’t yo daddy’s crushed red pepper). Crushed Red Pepper could work here in a pinch but I do not think would yeild the same kick. 

1. Thoroughly wash all the vegetables.
2. Season the ground sirloin with salt and pepper.
3. Brown the ground sirloin in a skillet over medium-high (7 on my stove) heat. Break up with a spatula or spoon while it is cooking. You want the ground beef to be pretty small to fill the lettuce wraps. When the meat is browned remove it from the heat. Drain away any/all grease so you end up with fairly dry meat. Allow to cool.
4. Optionally Peel the cucumber. Slice the Cucumber in half or quarters and remove the seeds. Slice thin long ways and then cut into half inch segments so you end up with a bunch of small pieces of cucumber. Put in a large bowl.
5. Dice the onion. For this dish I prefer thinner slices and a slightly longer chop, but a fine chop works just as well. Add to the large bowl
6. Cut the Tomatos in half and remove all the seeds (this keeps the mixture from becoming overly juicy). Slice and then dice the tomato so that you have a bunch of small pieces of tomato. Add to the large bowl.
7. Rough Chop the Cilantro removing any large stems. Add to bowl.
8. Once cooled (it will still be warm, you just don’t want to add it hot because it will begin to cook your veggies) add meat to bowl.
9. In a smaller bowl combine the sugar, the fish sauce and 4 Tbs of Lime Juice (you may need to add more later).
10. Finely slice the peppers across the pepper so you end up with little tiny circles (if you use a serano or jalapeno, slice them long ways in half or quarters first) and add to the bowl along with 1/2 tsp of the Thai crushed pepper. This stuff is hot so start out slow. I end up adding about a whole tsp to 2 tsp if I am feeling particularly adventurous. But I repeat, this stuff if HOT!
11. With a fork or a whisk, rapidly stir the sauce.
12. All fish sauces are not created equal. Depending on brand some are stronger than others. Give it a little taste. It will be very salty but you want to make sure you taste a good mixture of lime and salt. If it tastes very musky or you don’t taste any lime at all add a couple more Tbs of lime juice until you get a good blend. Generally you want two parts fish sauce one part lime sauce, but I have had it up as high as equal parts depending on how strong the fish sauce is. Also gauge the heat at this point. If you want it hotter, add some more crushed pepper. If it is too hot add some more fish sauce and lime juice.
13. Pour dressing mixture into large bowl coating the meat and veggies. Toss mixture so that you end up with a good mixture of all the ingredients and everything is covered in the dressing.
14. Separate lettuce into individual wrap sized leaves and serve with mixture.

Most often my mixture does not make it out of the bowl and into anything nice before my family starts to eat this stuff.

 

Here is the link to this recipe on my blog if you want to bookmark it:

http://www.mybigfatfoodie.com/thai-beef-lettuce-wraps-yum-nu a/

That sounds good.  Do you think it would work if ground chicken were to be substituted for ground beef?  Would the recipe need to be tweaked to accomodate that?

I bought sriracha sauce today for the first time in my life, and for some reason my sleeve buddy/chef Keith came to mind, as in what would Keith do with this?  :)

Chicken would work, so would turkey and pork, chopped up shrimp, tofu, pretty much any protein. Beef is my favorite though. I don't think you would have to tweak for it.

With chicken or turkey you could go an almost satay route and instead of a lime juice dressing use PB2 and some water with the Chilis to make a spicy satay and mix it right into the chicken. On my blog there is a recipe for something similar but I have tried making my own sauce yet.

As for Sriracha sauce. You can put it on just about anything. It's basically Vietnamese ketchup. Spicy but they put it on an in everything. I put it on steamed or sauted cabbage and I love that. I dip meats in it when I want a good spicy kick.

We like to put kimchi sauce over hummus and eat it with celery and carrots. You could try that with the Sriracha too.

Here's one I really love. Sushi grade tuna roughly chopped, seaweed salad, wasabi mayo and Sriracha. Great flavor combo, low carb super healthy. Used to eat this in a fried wonton. In the Florida keys they call that a Tuna Nacho.

Darn It!  You need a pic of some kind on your blog!  Pinterest doesn't like the main recipe there.  Guess I'll have to print it up.

I approve of this posting.  sounds yum

This sounds amazing!  I will have to wait though as I have a date with my surgeon Monday morning.  Thanks for sharing!

Yum!!!!

You know I am not one for Thai food, but you just gave me an awesome idea for tacos!  Maybe Mexican food won't be totally off of the menu.  I  Mexican food, but it is not very healthy.  Hooray for lettuce wrap tacos!

I hear ya about the mexican food!!!  Maybe since we are both in Texas...maybe we are born with it in our blood.  I have already had chicken fajitas, with a sprinkle of shredded cheese, a small bloop of low fat sour cream and guacamole with just a dash of salsa and I was in heaven!!  Not sure if I could do the Lettuce wrap.  I am only 61/2 weeks out, so I havent tried to do raw veggies.  think it may be too soon for my stomach....but I agree, it sounds good.