Mu Shu Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Yum! I love this meal. This is based on a recipe that I got from a "one-pot meal" cooking class that I took with some of my co-workers at this great little cooking school "Kitchen on Fire" in Berkeley. That was my second time taking a class, the first being on my birthday, and I'm eager to try even more!!

In our bi-weekly vegetable/fruit deliver, we scored some wonderful napa cabbage that needed to be used, thus - naturally we needed to make this meal again! It's another quick and easy one that can be altered depending on what ingredients and fresh vegetables you have on hand. Here's what we did...

Ingredients: Mu Shu Chicken Lettuce Wraps

serves 3-4 (we had a little bit of leftovers)

1 T. vegetable oil (I used half vegetable oil and half sesame oil)

1/2 lb. ground chicken or diced chicken breast meat (we've done both, this time we used ground)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 T. ginger, minced

1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 cups shitake mushrooms, sliced (we added in some extra button mushrooms for fun)

2.5 cups napa cabbage, shredded

1.5 cups bean sprouts (these are a must - so delicious!)

1/2 cup bok choy, thinly sliced

1/2 cup chicken stock

2.5 T. fish sauce

4 T. soy sauce

1.5 T. hoisin sauce

1 T. sesame oil

1 T cornstarch, mixed with 2 T water to form a slurry

1/2 cup green onion, thinly sliced

soy sauce and pepper

Iceberg lettuce

Heat oil in a pan (ideally a wok....we need one) over high heat. Start by browning the meat (sprinkle with some salt and pepper) and then remove from pan.

Chop vegetables - lots of chopping!!

Place the pan back on the heat and add a touch more oil. Stir in the next 7 ingredients (garlic to bok choy) and cook until tender. (Note: one thing I learned from the cooking class was to do a stir-fry it needs to be high heat. Don't worry if anything is sticking to the bottom of the pan or if it looks like it is charring, that will loosen up once it cooks and the juices come out.)

Add in the liquids (stock, fish sauce, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil). Cook until liquid has reduced by about 1/2.

Add back the chicken along with the slurry and stir until thickened. Removed from heat, stir in green onions and adjust seasoning with soy sauce and pepper.

We serve the mixture with iceberg lettuce wraps but it would be great with those chinese pancakes too. This one is a keeper.