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Lettuce cups with ground pork & stir fried veggies


Get:
  • 1lb ground pork from Zonottos
  • fish sauce
  • chili paste
  • soy sauce
  • sesame oil
  • olive oil
  • 1 lime, zested and juiced
  • little gem lettuces
  • green onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • pinch of brown sugar
  • 1/2 yellow onion, sliced into meridians
  • 1 red bell pepper, julienned
  • 1 zuccini, julienned
  • minced basil (optional)
  • cilantro (optional)

Prep:
Note: this meal comes together quickly! Do all the cold prep first and then fire it in this order:

Rice:
  • Combine 1c jasmine rice with 1c water
  • Rinse repeatedly, maintaining water level
  • Transfer to rice cooker and fire

Veggies:
  • mince the garlic
  • zest the lime
  • squeeze the lime's juice into a bowl
  • chop green onion into 2mm rounds
  • slice 1/2 yellow onion into thin meridian ribbons
  • julienne red bell pepper
  • julienne zucchini
  • Rinse, pat dry, and plate leaves of lettuce

Make cold dressing:
  • Combine:
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • juice of 1/2 of a lime
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp red chili paste
  • cilantro (optional)
  • pinch of brown sugar

Fire the meat:
  • Heat a large frying pan and add a little oil on medium-high.
  • Fry the pork, seasoned with salt and pepper, for 5–7 minutes until crisp and brown and broken down to a fine consistency.
  • Drain the crisped mince on a paper towel or through a sieve – this will help it stay crispy. Set aside.
  • Scrape or wipe the pan if grease is excessive, and add 1 tbsp of toasted sesame oil.
  • Add 2 cloves minced garlic, and 1 tsp chilli paste.
  • Fry with a pinch of salt and the sugar for 2 minutes.
  • Add the meat and stir to mix. 
  • Add 1 tbsp fish sauce and heat through.
  • Stir in zest of 1 lime and juice of 1/3rd lime.
  • Add some of the dressing, proportionally
  • Add the spring onions, stirring for 30-60 seconds. Turn off the heat.
  • Transfer to serving dish

Fire the veggies:
  • heat the residual pork fat, add olive oil to get up to ~1tbsp, on medium-high heat
  • add the onions and stir fry for 1 minute
  • add the pepper and zucchini and stir fry for 1 minute
  • add 1 tbsp soy sauce plus some of the pork dressing, and stir-fry for 1 minute
  • add minced basil and toss, remove from heat after 30 seconds
Serve:
  • Transfer veggies to serving dish with slotted spoon to plate; drain since the soy can sog
  • Put remaining dressing in a dish
  • Spoon some of the mince mixture into the lettuce leaves, drizzle with a little dressing and eat.


Results:
  • Delicious over all! Fish sauce was easy and necessary.
  • I couldn't find little gems so I used a butter lettuce. The inner leaves have a nice cup shape that works fine.
  • I substituted chili paste for the minced chili and that was perfectly fine.
  • Very limey! I combined the dressing with the meat ahead of time and probably used too much. Try less lime in dressing, and don't pre-dress the meat.
  • Meat didn't get as uniformly crumbly as you might want. If I cared about this I would probably squoosh the raw meat first before plopping it in a pan.
  • A previous version of this recipe calls for ginger but I didn't bother.
  • Served with coconut rice and simple stir fried veggies: yellow onion, zuccini, and red bell pepper in soy and sesame. Very little time on the heat!
  • Draining the veggies is good since they sog in the soy quickly.



References:
  • Gordon Ramsay: https://www.gordonramsay.com/gr/recipes/chilli-beef-lettuce-wraps/
  • Doron made this with beef and pork versions, it was delicious! Made with fish sauce.

Measurement log May 22 2020:
  • dressing:
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 0.75 tsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1tsp lime juice
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp red chili paste
  • pinch of brown sugar
  • ---
  • 30g anaheim pepper, finely chopped
  • 75g finely minced green onion (3 onions)
  • 17g minced garlic