Almost Famous Lettuce Wraps

Tonight's dinner was another Asian one. PF Changs is a really good Asian restaurant and the Food Network Magazine: May decided to make a recipe for a "Copy That!" version of this dish. Ive personally never had the real thing but this recipe gave me a good idea of what it was; and if the original is better, then all i have to say is wow!

It was kind of similar in style to the Moo Shu Pork i made last week but in taste it was very different. It had flavors of the peanut butter i used and especially ginger. I ran out of hoisin sauce and i completely forgot until i had to make the dish so i put together a little version of it. To the stir fry sauce, along with the ingredients listed, i added about 1 tsp of peanut butter, 2 tsp of honey, 1 tsp of ginger, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and 1/4 tsp of hot sauce. It came out really well considering it was a bunch of different ingredients.

I did this dish without the cellophane noodles because i dont like their taste.

Ingredients:

For the Chicken:

• 1 large egg white
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, diced

For the Stir-Fry Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

For the Noodles:

• 2 bundles cellophane noodles
• Peanut oil, for frying

For the Stir-Fry:

• 4 tablespoons peanut oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon minced peeled ginger
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
• 4 scallions; 2 minced, 2 cut into 1-inch pieces
• Kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms,stemmed and diced
• 3/4 cup diced water chestnuts
• Small lettuce leaves, for serving
• Soy sauce, chili paste and/or hot mustard, for serving

Preparations:

Prepare the chicken: Whisk the egg white, cornstarch and rice wine in a bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Make the stir-fry sauce: Whisk 1/3 cup water, the oyster, hoisin and soy sauces, the rice wine and sesame oil in a bowl, then whisk in the cornstarch until dissolved.

Fry the noodles: Pull the noodles apart into sections. Heat 3/4 inch peanut oil in a medium saucepan until a deep-fry thermometer registers 380 degrees F. Working in batches, press the noodles into the oil with a spatula until they puff, 5 to 10 seconds. Drain on paper towels.

Make the stir-fry: Heat 2 tablespoons peanut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons peanut oil to the skillet; when almost smoking, stir in the garlic, ginger, jalapeno and minced scallions, then add 1/2 teaspoon salt and the sugar and stir-fry 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms, water chestnuts and scallion pieces and stir-fry 2 minutes. Add the stir-fry sauce and chicken and cook 1 minute.

Make a bed of noodles on a platter and top with the chicken mixture. Serve the noodles and stir-fry with lettuce leaves and soy sauce for dipping.

I really enjoyed this dish. You could really taste the ginger and the peanut taste from the peanut oil & peanut butter. Id love to taste the actual dish at the restaurant so i can compare this version to that one. The recipe called for jalapeños but i didnt really taste them much in the dish. It wasnt spicy at all, didnt think it would be but i thought there would be a little heat from jalapeño but i guess since they were seeded..... It couldve used a little heat so id say to use the hot mustard as a dipping sauce instead of soy. Everyone else thought it was delicious too!

Tomorrow is going to be really good!