Thursday, May 3, 2012

Spiced Turkey Lettuce Wraps with Green Apple and Butter Lettuce


Lettuce wraps are an event.  They are what I like to think of as an “active food.”  And if you know anything about me, you’ll know that I love active foods.  Dipping, wrapping, assembling, breaking open, I’m a big fan of these things.  Your food isn’t just heaped on a plate and placed in front of you with some utensils, ready to be shoveled in.  Active foods, in this case lettuce wraps, make the eating process a ritual, and something I can look forward to for days, or even weeks.  Lettuce wraps are perfect example of this.  First, you pick your perfect lettuce leaf.  Then you spread just the right amount of hoisin over the leaf.  Then you pile in the filling – but not too much.  Then, in this case, comes a sprinkling of diced apple and chopped scallions, before finally cupping up the wrap.  Only then can you start thinking about taking a bite – a glorious bite filled with a symphony of flavors and textures – meaty mushrooms, spiced pieces of turkey, crunchy, sweet apple, and bitter scallions.  And once you are done, you start the process all over again.  After wiping all the juices off your arm …

Ingredients 
4 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, diced
2/3 cup shiitake mushrooms, diced
20 ounces ground turkey
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon toasted and ground coriander
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
1 ½ teaspoons rice wine
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced
3 scallions, chopped
1 head butter lettuce
hoisin sauce, for serving

Instructions 
Heat 3 tablespoons peanut oil over high heat in a large skillet.  Add the cremini and shiitake mushrooms.  Get those mushrooms nice and brown, stirring often, about 5 minutes.  Remove from pan and set aside.  In a small bowl, mix the black pepper, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and coriander.  Place the ground turkey and spices in a large bowl and mix together with a fork.  Add another tablespoon of peanut oil to the skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add the spiced turkey meat.  Sauté until browned and cooked through.  Add the garlic and saute until fragrant.  Add the mushrooms back into the skillet.  In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, rice wine, and oyster sauce.  Pour over the meat and mushroom mixture.  Reduce the heat and let everything cook together for a minute or two.  Take off heat.  To assemble the wraps, brush hoisin sauce on a leaf, pile on the meat mixture, then add the scallions and apple.

31 comments:

  1. I love lettuce wraps! So much fun to eat. I like the healthy filling - especially the apples. Well done.

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  2. Lettuce wraps are a fun and healthy alternative to that thick bread that a lot of these sandwich shops love to use. It is also a great way to showcase that delicious filling. The lettuce certainly does not interfere with that. Yours filling recipe does have some tasty ingredients and I like the crunchy apple on top. Well done!

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  3. Lettuce wraps are one of my FAVORITE things in the world. And these are divine looking!

    I can't wait to try them out!

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  4. I love lettuce wraps. I just hate digging for the best piece of lettuce. I'm kind of OCD like that :-)

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  5. Mmm, these look delicious. Love the apple pieces in this, must be a great, tart crunch.

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  6. There are such beautiful flavours in this - apple must be amazing :D

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

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  7. I love the convenience of lettuce wraps. Great for picnics and beach rendezvous. Perfect for summertime =)

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  8. I'm completely obsessed with lettuce wraps so you could imagine how happy I am to have found this recipe. I love that this recipe uses ground turkey and has hoisin for serving. You can never have enough hoisin! Yum!

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  9. These look awesome! I'm a big fan of active food as well so I think I'm gonna have to make these. Thanks for the recipe!

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  10. That butter lettuce is so beautiful!

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  11. I love lettuce wraps and the apple is a great idea with the ground turkey. These might just be on the menu soon :-)

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  12. I absolutely adore lettuce wraps but I've never had them with granny smith apples before! LOVE!! Can't wait to try it!

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  13. These sound great! I love lettuce wraps! They remind me of when we went to S. Korea to visit my brother and we ate our bulgogi that way :)

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  14. What a creative wrap! Looks delicious.

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  15. I have always wanted to try these... you have diffinitely inspired me with this recipe and great photo! nicely done~

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  16. Active food - I'm a fan too! It makes things way more interesting. The way you described these has my mouth watering!

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  17. I love the green apple in this. It looks amazing!

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  18. Now that's my kind of wrap. The addition of green apple is just fantastic.

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  19. These really look beautiful. I love wraps and am always willing to try a new recipe. These sound delicious. I hope you have a great weekend. Blessings...Mary

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  20. Those wraps look light yet very tasty and loaded with flavours.

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  21. Awesome, totally my kind of food.Fun, crunchy and delicious :)You've used great flavors here especially the mushrooms and all the spices.I'm sure it came out totally amazing :)

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  22. Oooohhh LOVE these! Great idea to use butter lettuce. It's such a great texture and consistency and would work perfectly. Love the ground turkey, mushroom combination and the Asian flavors!

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  23. Lettuce wraps are a personal favorite of mine. Love the use of turkey, hoisin and shiitakes to make it super savory against the lettuce.

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  24. I agree these require very active eating. My husband hates it when I order any type of lettuce wrap when we go out to dinner. He says it looks like I'm a sloppy eater. I mean how can you eat these neatly if they are swarming in juice. It's not like they give you a slotted spoon with your meal!

    Anyway, yours look beautiful. I should really try these at home and get my husband to indulge. Then he'd see why they are so sloppy.

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  25. Oh, I love lettuce wraps but have only made them at home once! Yours look and sound DELISH!!!!

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  26. Oooo you read my mind! I'm not even kidding, I"m making these tonight! I bought some ground turkey yesterday and have been searching through recipes for turkey lettuce cups :) I don't have peanut oil though, is vegetable fine?

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  27. I LOVE Lettuce Wraps and the flavors in this recipe sound great. I am so curious about the apple!

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  28. What a wonderful combination of flavors! It looks absolutely mouth-watering.

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  29. I'm just catching up! Great recipe! I love the addition of the apple. yum!

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  30. Wow..Lovely receipe.
    I had problems finding the peanut oil so I skipped it but it was still delicious.
    Thanks!

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