Lettuce cups wrap up flavorful veggies and meat — or tofu
Lettuce cups are very fun to eat, which makes them especially popular around my house. You can never go wrong with interactive foods that each person gets to wrap and assemble.
My dad made this dish many, many times for us, usually as just one of three or four items in an abundant, family-style, Chinese American dinner — and he’d meticulously trim large leaves of iceberg lettuce into perfect circles to serve as the perfect wrap. But I usually serve lettuce cups alongside some hot cooked rice and a simple vegetable on the side and call it a day. If my family is feeling a bit hungrier, we will pull out some frozen dumplings (a staple in our freezer) and add those to round out the meal.
At its core, this dish is just a humble stirfried minced meat with some classic Chinese flavors — soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, scallions. What makes it rate way more than ho-hum is the great contrast of the crisp, cool lettuce that envelops the warm, savory filling. That contrast of textures — cool and hot, crisp and soft — is the whole appeal. Maximize the lettuce’s crispness by washing and drying it well, then refrigerating the leaves, covered with a damp paper towel.
Adding chopped celery and water chestnuts to the filling builds on the textural complexity. You can add more layers of texture by setting out some additional crisp add-ons as garnishes. Try sliced cucumbers or julienned carrots, or take a page from my dad’s playbook and fry some rice noodles in hot oil until they puff up spectacularly. Go for bolder flavor by adding chile sauce, chile flakes or a dash of oyster sauce.
This recipe calls for ground pork, but you can use any sort of mince you like: turkey, beef, pork or lamb. A firm tofu, pressed and drained very well, then crumbled, would also work, but given tofu’s inherent blandness, you’ll need to increase the seasonings.
Don’t skip a liberal drizzle of hoisin sauce at the end. That additional sweetness is perfect for balancing the other flavors.
Dad’s Lettuce Cups Serves 4 INGREDIENTS
1 pound ground pork
½ cup onion, finely diced
1⁄3 cup water chestnuts, finely diced 2 stalks celery, finely diced
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon soy sauce (use dark soy sauce if you have it)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon hoisin
Handful of chopped cilantro
1 large head of butter, romaine or iceberg lettuce, separated into leaves, with any large ribs cut out
Flavored with hoisin, garlic and soy sauce, this ground pork filling elevates lettuce cups. Garnish: Hoisin sauce and chopped or Stir to coat the meat, then raise the heat sliced scallions to medium-high and cook until most of the liquid has cooked off and the sugars have started to caramelize. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and additional soy sauce, as desired.
Turn the heat off and stir in the chopped cilantro. Serve immediately with crisp lettuce leaves, hoisin sauce for drizzling and any other garnishes and condiments of your choice.
DIRECTIONS
Season the ground pork with salt and pepper and saute over medium heat until nearly cooked through, breaking up the meat as it cooks for a finer texture. Pour off most of the collected fat.
Add the onions, water chestnuts, celery and garlic. Continue cooking over medium heat, sauteing until the vegetables are softened, 5 to 6 minutes.
Add the soy sauce, brown sugar and hoisin.