Spicy Szechuan Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Submitted by cali_love

"Awesome as an appetizer OR a meal. I saw this on the Food Network one Sunday morning and I just had to jot down the recipe to try it out; it looked absolutely divine! Since I haven't made it myself yet, I am unsure as to how many servings it is. From what it looked like on TV, I am estimating it will make about 18 lettuce wraps."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Yields: 18 lettuce wraps
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• oil, for cooking
• 1 lemon, juice of
• 2 tablespoons butter
• bibb lettuce or iceberg lettuce

• FOR THE SLAW MIX

• 1 daikon radish, julienned
• 2 carrots, julienned
• 1⁄2 cup green onion, diced
• 1⁄4 cup bean sprouts
• 1⁄2 cup szechuan sauce (check in your Asian grocery aisle)

• FOR THE RUB

• 1 tablespoon Chinese five spice powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 1 pinch cracked black pepper

directions

1. In a small bowl, mix the 5 spice powder, cayenne pepper, sea salt, and black pepper together. Set aside.
2. Slice the chicken breasts in half lengthwise, and pound out in between two sheets of plastic wrap. This is to ensure even cooking.
3. Sprinkle on spice mixture evenly on both sides of the chicken breasts, lightly patting "rub" onto the chicken.
4. Heat oil in pan over medium high/high heat and fry chicken until lightly browned. (If your breasts are pounded out thin, it should not take too long to cook.) Put a little bit of butter (about 1/2 tbsp) on the top of each chicken breast, and drizzle lemon juice as well, for extra flavor. Flip chicken breasts over to cook the other side and repeat process.
5. Once the chicken has been fully cooked, remove from heat and place onto a platter and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.
6. While the chicken is resting, prepare the slaw mix. Peel and wash your carrots and daikon radish. If you have a mandolin, you may use that to slice the carrots. Otherwise, thinly slice the carrots and daikon into julienned strips.
7. In another bowl, combine the carrots, daikon, diced green onions, bean sprouts, and Szechuan sauce together.
8. Thinly slice the chicken breasts. You can either slice them into strips or dice them, depending on your preference.
9. Arrange a little of the slaw mix and the chicken onto each bib lettuce cup. If you are unable to find bib lettuce, you can try using regular iceberg lettuce cups instead.
10. If you are serving this as an appetizer, it should serve about 4-6 people.