Look ma, no carbs!

Chinese cooking is fascinating for its long history and diverse taste from one part of the country to another. A couple of years ago I visited Beijing for a conference and had some of the most unbelievable food. The flavors are very intense and yet it doesn't mask the main ingredients. The majority of the Chinese cooking I have eaten is mostly Cantonese where the flavor is light and the main ingredient is emphasized.

Tonight I decided to make a seafood lettuce wraps for dinner. Some of the traditional and fancier lettuce wraps use minced pork, dry oysters, and poultry like duck or squab. I decided to make a healthier version using seafood without sacrificing the taste. I sure many of you have ordered the P.F. Chang version of the chicken or vegetable lettuce wraps. I'm not a big fan of their wraps because it lacks complexity of the taste. The wraps that I generally tends to a more drier version with a lot of texture to the palate. Most of the work in creating the wraps is the prep with cutting up the different ingredients. Cooking is generally quick in comparision. 

Before I start with the actual recipe I like to share a few things with Chinese cooking.

• Gas stove is a must! I waited 13 years to remodel our kitchen and I finally have a custom Wolf gas wok burner
• You can practically cook anything with a wok! A well seasoned wok will last forever and is almost non-stick with high heat
• High heat cooking will lock in the flavors and keep the food moist for most recipes
• A nice iron cleaver can accomplish almost all your cutting needs

Ingredients:

• 1lb of fresh scallops chopped
• 1/2 lb of raw shrimps -- peeled and de-veined. Smaller shimp sizes do not need to be chopped
• 2 cups of strings beans diced. I prefer the long Chinese string beans but any would do fine
• 1 cup of diced carrots
• 1 8oz can of diced chestnuts
• 1/4 cup of chopped chives. Scallions would also work as well
• 1 cup of chopped shitake mushrooms.  Fresh or rehydrated.
• 2 tbsp of oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp of sesame oil
• 1 head of lettuce

Optional ingredients may include fried thin rice noodles for texture, calamari, or fresh chopped fish. 

Cooking order is important to avoid over-cooking the seafood!  Scallops contain alot of liquid. Generally I would blanch the scallop first and then coat with a pinch of corn starch before cooking.  Cook the scallop for about 2-3 minutes until it's slightly opaque. Remove the scallop from the wok and place in a bowl. Cook the shrimp for about 1-2 minutes until it starts turning pink. Never..never over cook shrimp. Remove this as well from the wok. Add more oil and add the carrots, chestnut, string beans and shitake mushroom. Cook for about 5 minutes and add liquid like broth if necessary to keep the vegetables moist.  You want to keep the veggie crunchy and not mushy for the texture. Add the shrimp and scallop back into the wok and add the oyster sauce, sesame oil, and chives. Stir fry for another 5 minutes at medium high heat. I'll explain a little more about wok cooking in a different blog entry.

I like to use various vegetables to give it a nice presentation with the different colors.

Here is the finished product:

You can use a variety of dipping sauce like plum sauce, oyster sauce, hot sauce, or a sweet and sour sauce.  I prefer plain since the seafood mixture itself is very flavorful.

Enjoy!