Asian Lettuce Wraps

Summer is a great time for eating many kinds of salad. This salad is full of crunchy goodness and is bursting with flavour! It is a bit messy which adds to the fun. Asian Lettuce Wraps go well with soup, an Asian meal or all by itself.

Ingredients for wraps:

1 head iceberg Lettuce

2 servings bean thread noodles

Sesame oil

Soy sauce

Brown sugar

1/4 purple cabbage, shredded fine

1 medium-sized carrot, peeled and shredded or sliced fine

10 sugar peas sliced diagonally in 1/4 inch strips

1 cup dry roasted peanuts, chopped coarsely

pea shoots for garnish

cilantro leaves for garnish

Instructions

Lettuce:

• Take the core out of lettuce and soak in ice cold water for 1 hour or until crisp

• Cut lettuce heads in half from the core end up to the top and turn cut side down onto a towel to drain

• Take lettuce leaves apart into serving-sized pieces and place on a platter (should make 6 - 8 servings)

• Place in refrigerator in a large bowl covering with a damp towel while preparing other ingredients

Bean Thread Noodles:

• Prepare a medium-sized pot with water and boil.

• Remove from heat

• Take 2 servings of bean thread noodles and place them into hot water

• Do not cook, just soak

• Keep noodles in hot water until al dente

• Remove noodles from the water and drain in a colander

• Place noodles into a bowl or back in the pot

• Add sesame oil to noodles and stir in, lifting noodles until they are lightly coated in the oil

• Add soy sauce to desired saltiness and mix well

• Add brown sugar (to balance with saltiness) and stir in

Purple Cabbage:

• Finely shred the purple cabbage and place it in a separate bowl

Carrot:

• Make carrot flowers, shred or make carrot “coins” and place them in a separate bowl

Sugar Peas:

• Diagonally slice peas in 1/4 inch slices and place in a separate bowl

Cilantro:

• Wash and dry cilantro leaves and break them into sprigs about 2 inches long

Peanuts:

• Place some salted peanuts in a freezer bag and crush them with a rolling pin

To assemble the wraps:

• Divide lettuce leaves into individual servings

• Place a small bundle of noodles into the base of each lettuce serving

• Place vegetables in an attractive way over the noodles, keeping each item separate

• Garnish with cilantro leaves, pea shoots and crushed peanuts

• Serve with peanut sauce as a dressing

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Peanut Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

2-3 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1/2 - 3/4 cup Thai sweet red chili sauce

1/4 + water to thin

Instructions:

• Mix ingredients together

• Water sauce down to desired consistency, then check for taste:

• Adjust –add more

– sweet chilli sauce for spice

– peanut butter to reduce spiciness

– soy sauce to make salty

– water to reduce saltiness