Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps

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(from Bethany’s recipe box)

SERVES 4 AS A MAIN DISH OR 6 AS AN APPETIZER

To make an entrée, serve this dish with steamed white rice.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
This dish, popularized by chain restaurants like P.F. Chang’s and the Cheesecake Factory, is based on a Cantonese dish called sung choy bao. Most recipes for this dish suffer from a similar fate—stringy, tasteless meat drowned in a bland sauce. To remedy this, we started with flavorful chicken thighs and marinated them in soy sauce and rice wine. To keep the meat from drying out when stir-fried, we coated it in a velvetizing cornstarch slurry, which helped it retain moisture as it cooked.

Source: Cook's Illustrated Published May 1, 2012 (CC and CI collection)

Categories: Poultry

Ingredients

  • CHICKEN:
  • 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 teaspoons Chinese rice cooking wine or dry sherry
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • SAUCE:
  • 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine or dry sherry
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • STIR-FRY:
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 ribs celery, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 6 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced thin
  • 1/2 cup water chestnuts, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 2 scallions, white parts minced, green parts sliced thin
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 (8-oz) head Bibb lettuce, washed and dried, leaves separated and left whole
  • Hoisin sauce

Directions

  1. FOR THE CHICKEN: Place chicken pieces on large plate in single layer. Freeze meat until firm and starting to harden around edges, about 20 minutes.

  2. Whisk rice wine, soy sauce, oil, and cornstarch together in bowl. Pulse half of meat in food processor until coarsely chopped into 1/4 to 1/8-inch pieces, about 10 pulses. Transfer meat to bowl with rice wine mixture and repeat with remaining chunks. Toss chicken to coat and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

  3. FOR THE SAUCE: Whisk all ingredients together in bowl; set aside.

  4. FOR THE STIR-FRY: Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until smoking. Add chicken and cook, stirring constantly, until opaque, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to bowl and wipe out skillet.

  5. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in now-empty skillet over high heat until smoking. Add celery and mushrooms; cook, stirring constantly, until mushrooms have reduced in size by half and celery is crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add water chestnuts, scallion whites, and garlic; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Whisk sauce to recombine. Return chicken to skillet; add sauce and toss to combine. Spoon into lettuce leaves and sprinkle with scallion greens. Serve, passing hoisin sauce separately.

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