One of the meals that is on the regular weeknight circuit is my riff on a dish from a big corporate restaurant, P.F. Changs. They make these lovely lettuce wraps that we have decided to turn into “Asian” tacos for our Taco Tuesday, just to mix it up and confuse the locals.
I make this often because it is actually pretty easy to duplicate what could very well be the restaurant version, especially if your fridge and pantry have at least a couple of Asian staples like rice wine vinegar, hoisin, etc. I actually now think that this version tastes better, and certainly are probably healthier than the ones off their menu because you you can also source your own ingredients.
If you are panicked that you don’t have any “Asian” ingredients in your pantry, you could probably get away with a quick trip to the local supermarket as traditionally Asian ingredients seem to have their own spot on the shelf these days.
We usually double the base recipe because of all the kids but also because we rarely serve it with anything else and it also tastes very good the next day in the kids’ lunches.
I believe the P.F. Chang version uses ground chicken but I typically use ground turkey because Costco makes it super convenient by selling two, one-pound packages of organic ground turkey for a great price so we usually grab one each trip and put in the freezer knowing that eventually we will probably use it for this dish.
Oh and we usually add some rice only because it adds a little bulk to this Asian “taco” and frankly tastes really good together. Pretty sure this also is a little different then the one found on the menu.
P.F. Changs style Lettuce Wraps (Asian Tacos)
1 lb ground chicken/turkey
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup hoisin
2 T soy sauce
1 T rice wine vinegar
1 T grated ginger
1 T sriracha
1 can water chestnuts, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
Butter lettuce leaves but iceberg or romaine will also work
Optional: rice prepped per package instructions
Brown chicken/turkey and after about 5 minutes, add the onion and garlic. Brown for 10-12 minutes until all meat is browned and onions and garlic are softened. Mix hoisin, soy, vinegar, ginger and sriracha. Once meat and onion mixture are browned and done, add the hoisin mixture and cook for another 3 or so minutes to heat through. Add water chestnuts and cook for another 2 or so minutes. Top with the green onions and serve with the optional rice and lettuce leaves.
We typically have additional sriracha and sweet chili sauce ready at the table.
