Chicken Lettuce Wraps

After three days in Maine I headed down to New York with my sister, Kelly.  I lived in New York from 2006-2008 and I love visiting my friends and my favorite restaurants.  Last night as soon as we arrived in Manhattan we went to Spice where I satisfied my craving for Curry Puffs and Pad Thai.

It was raining like crazy on Tuesday night so we decided to stay in.  Kelly made a great dinner inspired by the lettuce wraps at PF Changs.  We scooped the chicken onto butter lettuce leaves, but it would also be very good on top of brown rice.

Total time: 45 minutes
Serves 4

You will need:
2 pounds Chicken breasts, diced
1 medium onion, finely diced
1/2 pound mushrooms, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of fresh ginger, minced
1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
1/2 cup stir fry sauce (any generic stir fry sauce)
1 can water chestnuts, diced
1/4 chopped peanuts
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 package of butter lettuce
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Optional: thinly sliced carrots on top

Step 1:
Place the diced chicken a medium bowl with the cayenne pepper, stir fry sauce, half of the Hoisin and half of the ginger.  Let marinate while you prepare the other ingredients.

Step 2:
Heat the sesame oil over medium low heat and add in the onion.  Cook until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add in the mushrooms and turn the heat up to medium.  Cook for 5 more minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and the mushrooms brown slightly.  Then add in the garlic and remaining ginger and cook for 1 minute.

Step 3:
Add in the chicken with the marinade.  Cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Then add in the water chestnuts and remaining Hoisin sauce.  Stir to combine and heat through.

Step 4:
Serve the chicken with the lettuce and top with peanuts and carrots.