Lettuce Wraps
On the surface it looks like such a boring, goody-two-shoes version of a nice wrap or taco dinner. But honestly? Lettuce is crunchy and tasty and totally up for the role of wrap! With a zesty, salty and sweet mince filling (plant based if you wish!), this is a super quick dinner, guaranteed to be requested again.
Crunch and flavour
First tip; don’t skip the step of soaking your lettuce leaves. Soaking them in cold water makes them crispier and less bitter. Both of which you want, especially for this recipe, where they play an important role!
Pork mince is great for this recipe in my opinion, but so is chicken, turkey - or crumbled tofu. You can even just use some finely chopped vegetables, perfect for using up leftovers (you know how big a fan I am of that!).
Lettuce Wraps
2-4 servings
500g mince (pork, beef, chicken or turkey), or crumbled tofu/finely chopped veg for a vegan/vegetarian version
1 lettuce head (you may not use all of it!)
1/2 onion, grated
1 garlic clove, grated
1 grated carrot (or any other veg you need to use, like a courgette or a broccoli stem)
A splash of olive oil (or sesame/coconut oil works well for this)
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp ground ginger
Juice from half an orange/1 satsuma (optional)
1tsp lime juice
A pinch of dried chilli flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup of grated cheddar
Pull off whole lettuce leaves, rinse them and soak them in a bowl with ice cold water.
Fry off the mince (or tofu/veg) in some oil and set aside in a bowl. In the same pan, gently fry the onion, garlic and carrot, add in the orange juice (or a bit of water, if not using juice). When the onion, garlic and carrot is nice and soft, put the mince back in and add soy sauce, ground ginger, chilli flakes and salt and pepper. Gently fry it all until it is nice and flavourful. you can add more of whatever you wish here; soy sauce for saltiness, orange juice for sweetness or chilli flakes (or a bit of hot sauce) for more of a kick.
Grate some cheddar and put in a bowl. Take the lettuce leaves out and pat them dry with some kitchen roll.
Assemble the wraps by filling the lettuce leaves with the mince mix, top with some cheddar, fold and munch away! This is a great meal to serve family style, it’s very easy to just pop three bowls on the table and let people choose for themselves! You can also chop up some cucumber and tomato if you want to add some more veg to this, for people to top it with. A bit of yoghurt or sour cream on top would be nice too!
Do let me know if you tried the lettuce wraps and share a photo on social media - don’t forget to tag me!
