Dumpling lettuce wraps

This dish is a so simple and ready in less than 30 minutes, so basically the easiest route to a delicious dinner. AND it can be customized to suit different tastes, which usually makes for a less stressful dinner time in our house.

Take me to the recipe!

For example, we served the pork in lettuce wraps to lighten it up for the adults and used it to top brown rice for M who’s in a “rice bowl” phase. Don’t ask.

M has been obsessed with dumplings since time immemorial, so, obviously, we made our own a few weeks ago for Lunar New Year. I, obviously, got lazy half way through the giant stack of dumpling wrappers and decided to saute the rest of the filling and call it a day.

The saltyness from the soy sauce as well as the garlic and scallions cut through the fatty pork. There’s also a lot of cabbage in there that M doesn’t even realize he’s eating. You could probably throw in a host of other veggies too if that’s your bag.

One could also swap out half or all of the pork for a less fatty ground meat or shrimp to lighten this up a bit too.

Seriously, there are a lot of dinners out there that claim to be ready in less than 30 minutes, but aren’t really done that fast. This is sincerely one of the quickest dinners in our repertoire.

Dumpling lettuce wraps

1 lb ground pork
3 cups green cabbage, finely chopped (about ½ of a small Napa cabbage)
6 scallions, minced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
½ bunch cilantro, minced (stems and all)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 egg, lightly beaten

For serving:
Thinly sliced radishes
Sliced cucumbers
Sriracha
Spicy mayo
Raw cabbage
Cilantro
Pickled onions
Kimchi

Chop the cabbage, scallions, garlic, cilantro, sauces, pork, and beaten egg to a large bowl and mix well tom combine.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until hot. Turn the flame to medium low.

Add the meat mixture to the skillet and cook until no pink remains, about 10-12 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary.

There may be a lot of liquid that comes out in the cooking. If so, turn up the heat to medium high and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the water has evaporated and the meat has browned underneath.

Serve in lettuce leaves, wraps, tortillas, or over rice, cauliflower rice, or anything else.

Yield: about 3.5 cups of filling, or about 3-4 servings with toppings.