Home Cooking with Foodland: Episode 21

Join Chef Keoni in his home kitchen as he demonstrates how to make Vietnamese Style Beef Lettuce Wraps.

Ingredients and Instructions (Serves 4):

Ingredients:

  • Vegetable oil for stir frying
  • 1 pound thinly sliced beef strips, ¼ inch by 1 inch
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and minced
  • 1 Hawaiian chili pepper or thai chili, deseeded and chopped, or dry chilies
  • 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon shoyu
  • 1 lime, cut in half
  • 1 dash sesame oil
  • ¼ cup finely sliced mint leaves or basil
  • ¼ cup finely sliced green onions
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 pack of Sensei Farms crystal lettuce, or 1 head of green leaf lettuce, looking for large broad leaves
  • ¼ cup chopped peanuts
  • ½ cup julienned cucumber
  • ¼ cup finely sliced radish

Directions:

  1. Heat a wok or 10-12 inch saute pan on high heat.
  2. Add a dash of vegetable oil into the pan.
  3. When you see wisps of smoke, add in the beef. Cook for 2 minutes.
  4. Add in the garlic and ginger. Cook for 2 more minutes.
  5. Add in the sugar, fish sauce, shoyu, juice of half a lime and sesame oil. Stir.
  6. Add in the basil and green onions, taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
  7. To serve, place beef in a bowl and serve with the lettuce, peanuts, cucumber, and radish, remaining lime (cut it into quarters) and dipping sauce. Take a lettuce leaf and layer in the beef and garnish. Enjoy.

Optional: serve sriracha on the side for more heat.

Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup warm water
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon shoyu
  • 1 small garlic clove minced
  • 1 Hawaiian or Thai chili, sliced

Directions:

  1. Combine the ingredients, taste and adjust to preference.
  2. Serve with the lettuce wraps.

Notes: Directions are meant as a general guide. Chef Keoni may improvise slightly during class.