P.F. Chang's Chicken in Soothing Lettuce Wraps

Serves 2 or 3 as an appetizer

Special sauce:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon Chinese hot mustard powder

2 teaspoons water

1 to 3 teaspoons chili garlic sauce

Stir-fry sauce:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets

1 cup diced water chestnuts

2/3 cup diced straw mushrooms

3 tablespoons chopped green onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic (1 clove)

1 cup fried mai fun rice sticks, see below

4 to 5 iceberg lettuce cups

• Make the special sauce (for spooning over your lettuce wraps) by dissolving the ¼ cup sugar in ½ cup water in a small bowl.

• Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil.

• Mix well and refrigerate the sauce until you're ready to serve the lettuce wraps.

• Combine the 2 teaspoons water with the Chinese hot mustard and set this aside as well.

• Eventually you'll add your desired measurement of Chinese mustard and garlic-chile sauce to the special-sauce mixture to pour over the lettuce wraps. In the restaurant chain, waiters prepare the sauce at your table the same way, depending on your desired heat level.

• Prepare the stir-fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.

• To prepare the filling for your lettuce wraps, bring 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil to high heat in a wok or a large frying pan.

• Sauté the chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until done.

• Remove chicken from the pan to cool.

• Keep the oil in the pan.

• As the chicken cools, be sure your water chestnuts and mushrooms have been diced to about the size of small peas.

• When you can handle the chicken, hack it up with a sharp knife so that no piece is bigger than a dime.

• With wok or pan on high heat, add the remaining tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add chicken, garlic, water chestnuts and mushrooms to pan.

• Add the stir-fry sauce to the pan and sauté the mixture for a couple of minutes, and then spoon it into a dish lined with a bed of fried rice noodles (mai fun).

• Serve chicken with a side of lettuce cups. Make the lettuce cups by slicing the top off a head of lettuce right through the middle of the head. Pull your lettuce cups off the outside of this slice.

• Make the special sauce at the table by adding your desired measurement of mustard and chile sauce to the special-sauce blend: 1 teaspoon each of mustard and chile sauce for mild, 2 teaspoons each for medium and 3 teaspoons of each for hot. Stir well.

• Assemble lettuce wraps by spooning filling into a lettuce cup, adding special sauce over the top.

• Note: Follow the directions on the package for frying the mai fun (rice sticks), usually by pouring 2 inches of vegetable oil into a pan and heating to about 400 degrees.

• Add mai fun, a little at a time, and when it floats to the top, remove it to a paper towel.

- Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2, by Todd Wilbur

Nutritional information per serving: 584 cal., 11 g fat (1 g sat.), 44 mg chol., 100 g carb., 1,699 mg sodium, 5 g fiber, 21 g pro.

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