Impress your family/friends by whipping out this one-dish meal in under 30 minutes.  They’ll love you for it!  

 

Makes approx. 4 Servings

 

Elements:

One pound lean GROUND BEEF or lean GROUND TURKEY  (or ground pork, or a mixture of a couple of meats)

One red or yellow ONION, chopped

One RED BELL PEPPER, deseeded and chopped

Drizzle of SESAME OIL for flavor (Make sure it is a good quality brand.  Cheapy sesame oil tastes like plain oil. Bleh.)

Three cloves of GARLIC, crushed

Two teaspoons fresh minced GINGER

Three SCALLIONS, rinsed and chopped

Splash of SOY SAUCE or BRAGG’S LIQUID AMINOS

Two or three tablespoons HOISIN SAUCE

GROUND BLACK PEPPER to taste

Squirt of SRIRACHA SAUCE, a fresh diced RED CHILI, or CRUSHED RED PEPPER FLAKES for a little kick  (optional)

ROASTED SESAME SEEDS  (optional)

Cold LETTUCE LEAVES, rinsed well with bottoms trimmed  (You can use any kind you like– romaine, red or green leaf, butter/Boston, or even cabbage leaves.)

 

Application:

In a large pan over med-high heat, cook the meat until it is almost all browned, then drain the excess fat.  Add the onion and bell pepper and saute for a couple minutes.  Stir in a drizzle of sesame oil, garlic, and ginger. Saute another few minutes until the onion and pepper start to soften.  Add the remaining ingredients (minus the lettuce leaves), mix well, and heat through.  Pour into a large serving dish (to eat family style) or divide onto individual plates.  Serve with crisp cold lettuce leaves.

 

Tips:

If you’re new to eating lettuce wraps, here’s how you do it:  take one lettuce leaf in your hand, scoop a couple tablespoons of meat mixture into the middle of the leaf, fold up all the sides to enclose the mixture, and then take a big ol’ bite!  Repeat. 🙂

Don’t know what eating “family style” means?  Well it technically can vary in meaning between different cultures, but the gist of it is that you’re main foods are not pre-served onto individual plates.  Foods are served in large serving dishes and placed in the middle of the table where everyone can reach across the table to grab what they need.  Growing up in a Korean home, we usually only had an individual bowl of rice and/or soup in front of us.  Instead of scooping a serving of each entree and side dish into our individual bowls, we’d grab and eat as we go.  Love it.