P. F. CHANG’S CHICKEN IN SOOTHING LETTUCE WRAPS

MENU DESCRIPTION: “Quickly cooked spiced chicken served with cool lettuce cups.”

Throw in a few initials with a little twist on the last part, and you have the name of Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang’s Chinese bistro creation, P. F. Chang’s. Since the first location opened in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1993, over 124 new ones have sprouted up across the country—in more than 33 states. No matter the location, it’s this dish that gets first raves. Like the very-dead McDonald’s McD.L.T hamburger, which disappeared around the time the first PF. Chang’s opened, the contrasting textures of the cool crispy lettuce and the hot meat filling come together in your mouth for a tasty oral dance party. According to waiters, those little dark bits in the chicken filling mix are “black mushrooms,” and there’s a good chance your local supermarket doesn’t stock them. But a great alternative can be found in the Asian food section—canned straw mushrooms. Just remember to chop the chicken, water chestnuts and mushrooms up real good for the final saute. Slip this filling into a lettuce cup, fold it up like a taco, add a little “special sauce,” get down tonight.

SERVES: 2 TO 3 AS AN APPETIZER.

INGREDIENTS:

SPECIAL SAUCE:

• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup water
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ⅛ teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon Chinese hot mustard powder (see Tidbits)
• 2 teaspoons water
• 1 to 3 teaspoons chili garlic sauce

STIR FRY SAUCE:

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon rice vinegar
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

FILLING:

• 2 skinless chicken breast fillets
• 1 cup diced canned water chestnuts (1 8-ounce can)
• 1 cup diced canned straw mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons chopped green onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic (1 clove)
• 1 cup fried maifun rice sticks (see Tidbits)
• 4 to 5 iceberg lettuce cups

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Make the special sauce (for spooning over your lettuce wraps) by dissolving the ¼ cup sugar in ½ cup water in a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons ketchup, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and ⅛ teaspoon sesame oil. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you’re ready to serve the lettuce wraps. Combine the 2 teaspoons water with the Chinese hot mustard and set this aside as well. Eventually, you will add your desired measurement of Chinese mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over your lettuce wraps. In the restaurant chain, waiters prepare the sauce at your table the same way, depending on your desired heat level. I’ll talk more about that later.
2. Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.
3. To prepare the filling for your lettuce wraps, bring 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Saute the chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until done. Remove chicken from the pan to cool. Keep the oil in the pan.
4. As the chicken cools be sure your water chestnuts and mushrooms have been diced to about the size of small peas.
5. When you can handle the chicken, hack it up with a sharp knife so that no piece is bigger than a dime. With the wok or pan on high heat, add the remaining tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the chicken, water chestnuts, mushrooms, green onion, and garlic to the pan. Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple of minutes then spoon it into a dish lined with a bed of fried rice noodles (maifun).
6. Serve chicken with a side of lettuce cups. Make these lettuce cups by slicing the top off of a head of iceberg lettuce right through the middle of the head. Pull your lettuce cups off of the outside of this slice.
7. Make the special sauce at the table by adding your desired measurement of mustard and chill sauce to the special sauce blend: I teaspoon each of mustard and chili sauce for mild, 2 teaspoons each for medium and 3 teaspoons of each for hot. Stir well.
8. Assemble lettuce wraps by spooning filling into a lettuce cup, adding special sauce over the top, folding the sucker up like a taco, then munching down upon it with reckless abandon.

TIDBITS:

• Follow the directions on the package for frying the maifun (rice sticks)—usually by pouring 2 inches of vegetable oil into a panand heating to around 400 degrees.
• Add maifun, a little at a time, and when it floats to the top remove it to a paper towel.
• The rapid noodle expansion is actually quite exciting.
• Rather than powdered Chinese hot mustard, you can instead use the kind that comes already prepared in the bottle so that you don’t have to add water Your choice.