I'm a little bit late to the table on this, but I wanted to throw out a big thank you to Christy over at Balance for putting together a really fun and successful event this past Sunday to raise money for Haiti relief in conjunction with the Stir It 28 event happening simultaneously in several cities.
The afternoon consisted of way more food and drink than could be consumed by around 30 or more very happy attendees (at least the ones I knew said so!) and another 10 or so food bloggers who got to play in the beautiful teaching kitchen at NYU School of Nutrition and Food Studies. In the excitement, I only managed to get pictures of my own food and the decorations, but I encourage you to check out the blogs below because everything was really tasty and the bloggers themselves are fun people.
Menu (links to participating bloggers courtesy of Balance)
Dumpling Bar:
For my part, I made one of my favorite dishes of all time - Minced Chicken with Lettuce Cups. Lettuce wraps are considered lucky for Chinese New Year because the word for lettuce wrap in Cantonese (I hear - please 
Year of the Tiger!correct me if I'm wrong) sounds like the word for 'rising fortune' - a very good thing indeed. Apparently adding dried oysters makes the dish even luckier, but I wasn't ready to give that a try just yet. If you do, let me know.
The recipe I used comes from the old stand-by Williams Sonoma Stir Fry Cookbook and represents a very simple basic version which satisfies the craving. The recipe defies my usual rule which is to substitute more authentic ingredients whenever possible. The traditional Chinese dish, Gai Soong, is made with pigeon, and while using some Brooklyn pigeon could make this extremely local and authentic, minced chicken is a much better choice for me.As an aside, I still think the best lettuce wraps are at Betelnut on Chestnut Street in San Francisco, but I'm on a constant quest to try more.
As a challenge to myself and in order to help make the dish appropriate for a mixed crowd, I also played with a vegetarian version (it's even vegan!) and was quite pleased with the results. I've included an either/or set up in the recipe, but feel free to make both (doubling the sauce) and mix and match.
A note on lettuce: the recipe calls for iceberg lettuce, undoubtedly for its tough structure and cool crunch. I used butter lettuce for its pretty leaves and marginally better nutritional value. I urge you to experiment with lettuces keeping in mind taste, texture and strength of the leaves. Butter lettuce is a bit flimsy, but it's my favorite.
Lettuce Wraps Two Ways (adapted from Williams-Sonoma Stir Fry)
- 1lb. ground chicken
- 1 1/2 - 2 blocks extra firm tofu
- 16 ounces shitake mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed
- 2 tbsp soy sauce, divided
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar, preferably unseasoned, divided
- 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
Sauce:
- 5 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar, preferably unseasoned
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce (available in the Asian section of your grocery store)
- 2 tsp corn starch
- 6 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
- 4 scallions, finely chopped (including green tops)
- 4 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
- 2 cups water chestnuts, rinsed, well drained and coarsely chopped
- 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
- 1 head lettuce of your choice
- Place tofu under a heavy plate or baking pan weighted with cans. Let water squeeze out while you chop mushrooms and other ingredients. This step may be omitted but helps the tofu absorb the sauce and marinade.
- In a bowl, combine chicken and half of soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil. Stir to mix well. Set aside.
- Slice tofu lengthwise into thin strips and chop again into small cubes. Place in a bowl with chopped mushrooms and remaining soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil. Set aside.
- To make the sauce, combine all of the ingredients and stir in corn starch to dissolve. Set aside. (Note: I transported the sauce in a jar which made the dissolving very easy - shake it up!)
- In a large pan, heat 3 tablespoons of oil over high heat. Add chicken and stir quickly, breaking up any large pieces until no longer pink. Push to side of pan or remove and set aside. Add half of scallions, ginger and water chestnuts and toss quickly for 1 minute. Add 1/2 of prepared sauce and stir in cooked chicken. Stir until thickened slightly. Remove from heat.
- Wipe down pan (or use a second one if maintaining vegetarian/vegan meal is important) and heat additional 3 tablespoons of oil over high heat. Repeat step 5 with mushroom and tofu mixture.
- Stir in half of pine nuts in each finished mixture. Serve with lettuce wraps.
Note on leftovers: if you run out of lettuce wraps or want to make extra of either mixture, they taste great over rice. Serve with a vegetable or salad and you have another twist on the meal.
