Food Copycat: Lettuce wraps a la PF Chang

I tell my boyfriend (H) that one of the perks of taking me out to try new foods is that I might fancy to replicate a dish at home.  He's not one to need a lot of coaxing to eat out; in fact, I'm usually the one he has to convince to eat out.  It was a different story with PF Chang, however.  I had never eaten there, had only heard good things about it, albeit all coming from my American friends.  H had eaten there and vehemently trashed it for lack of authenticity and general overpriced muddying of the Chinese cuisine.  It was an exhausting struggle to get him to eat there with me.  I finally succeeded (after many, many failed attempts) at convincing him to go there on a hot summer day when half the city was out of power due to a hurricane.

I ordered the house entree: Chang's spicy chicken.  I figured if the dish is named after the restaurant, they must put special attention and lovin' into it.  I figured it would prove H wrong.  But of course he was right; the chicken was dry and the sauce was nothing more than the spicy chili sauce I could've gotten at the Asian grocery store.  I forget what H ordered, but he was also nonplussed at his meal.

The saving grace of the story, then, is the starter: the infamous PF Chang chicken lettuce wraps.  I knew I had to try it after hearing so many people talk it up.  And to my surprise it was actually delicious - the chicken was smoky and the sauce had the right zest in it; paired with crisp iceberg and it's genius.  Even H had to admit it was good.

It was good, and it was reproducible.  And tons of people on the internet have already claimed so.  With the help of Google and a few blogs, I got together the recipe to make my own lettuce wraps - granted it's not the exact replica of the dish from the restaurant, but it is delicious in it's own addicting ways.

Ingredients:
-Minced chicken or pork
-Garlic (the more the better in my opinion)
-Canned bamboo shoots, chopped
-Onion, chopped
-Red pepper, chopped (really any other veggies would work)
-Cilantro, chopped
-Iceberg lettuce (durh!)
-Rice wine (1/2 cup)
-Sweet soy sauce (2 TBS)
-Hoisin sauce (2 TBS)
-Chili sauce (1/2 cup)
-Vinegar (1 TBS)
-Fish sauce (2 tsp)

What to do:
1. Brown minced meat. Drain & put aside.
2. Sautee onion and garlic until translucent and fragrant.  Add in bamboo shoots and red pepper/other veggies.  Add in meat.  Cook on high heat for a few minutes to get it "smoky"
3. While the veggies cook, combine ingredients to make the sauce.  Add to hot pan.  Season to taste.
4. Sprinkle in cilantro.
5. Serve with crisp iceberg lettuce and a smirk to old PF Chang.

Savory filling in a crisp lettuce cup - Yum!

Tastes good AND good for you! (well, not bad for you)

 Note: Left overs taste even better, if that's even possible.  I guess the flavors get even more enhanced after marinating overnight... I brought this to lunch once with the filling in a small container and the lettuce in another container.  As I sat there savoring every bite, I could feel stares from other people nearby - perhaps I was sloppy with my lunch (it is hard to be a dainty lady when consuming these wraps) but I'm more inclined to believe they were stares of mad envy at my glorious lunch.