Pork Thai Lettuce Wraps

Last night was another rough night. Mike and I couldn't think of any allergens he had yesterday, but he still woke up swimming in his own...you know. All over his back, his front, and filling up his little footie pajamas. It's mornings like these that I'm glad Mike and I are a team. I am beginning to wonder if Lentils aren't to blame. He had them for lunch yesterday, and they are first cousins to peanuts and soy beans. But, he has no problem with the other legumes: pinto and black. I don't know. Maybe he has just built up little bits of allergens during the last week, maybe it's the trace gluten in the Lucky Charms. Who knows. Maybe it's an allergen we don't even know about yet?!?!?! All we can do is press on, I guess. We meet with the pediatric GI doc in a few weeks, and you can bet I've got a nice list of questions for him. Luckily, he's a very nice guy.

Ok, on to the food!

This is another America's Test Kitchen recipe. I fear you are going to be seeing a lot of these....I love them. Disclaimer: I haven't actually made these for Archie, but I have made them, and they were good! I am kind of using this blog as an Archie-friendly cookbook of sorts, so the fact that I can cook these for him down the road is enough for me! For some reason, I haven't given Archie much meat. I don't know if it's because he's just 14 months old, and the texture just doesn't seem doable, or because I'm kinda a meat-a-phobe (not vegetarian, but not full carnivore either). He has eaten some of his allergen free chicken nuggets and fish sticks, which he loves, but other than that, not really very much. He's only had this diagnosis for a few weeks and it seems I'm already in a rut! Geesh! Oh well, that's what this blog is for, right?
When I made these lettuce wraps, I ground the rice with a mortar and pestle instead of a spice grinder, and although it was very fun and felt authentic, it was LABORIOUS!! I think I bought a grinder the next day. But just know, if you don't have a spice grinder, it can be done!

THAI PORK LETTUCE WRAPS

Serve 6 as an appetizer or 4 as a main course.   Published September 1, 2009.   From Cook's Illustrated.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:

To get uniform, moist pieces of meat in our Thai pork lettuce wrap recipe, we chopped pork in the food processor and then marinated it in a little fish sauce so it would retain moisture during cooking. To refine our Thai pork recipe’s taste, we added sugar to balance the tart (lime juice), salty (fish sauce), and hot (dried chiles) flavors characteristic of Thai cuisine.

We prefer natural pork in this recipe. If using enhanced pork, skip the marinating in step 2 and reduce the amount of fish sauce to 2 tablespoons, adding it all in step 5. Don’t skip the toasted rice; it’s integral to the texture and flavor of the dish. Any style of white rice can be used. Toasted rice powder (kao kua) can also be found in many Asian markets. This dish can be served with sticky rice and steamed vegetables as an entrée. To save time, prepare the other ingredients while the pork is in the freezer.

INGREDIENTS

• 1pork tenderloin (about 1 pound), trimmed of silver skin and fat, cut into 1-inch chunks (see note)
• 2 1/2tablespoons fish sauce
• 1tablespoon white rice (see note)
• 1/4cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 2medium shallots , peeled and sliced into thin rings (about 1/2 cup)
• 3tablespoons juice from 2 limes
• 2teaspoons sugar
• 1/4teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3tablespoons roughly chopped fresh mint leaves
• 3tablespoons roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1head Bibb lettuce , washed and dried, leaves separated and left whole

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 1. Place pork chunks on large plate in single layer. Freeze meat until firm and starting to harden around edges but still pliable, 15 to 20 minutes.
2. 2. Place half of meat in food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped, 5 to six 1-second pulses. Transfer ground meat to medium bowl and repeat with remaining chunks. Stir 1 tablespoon fish sauce into ground meat and marinate, refrigerated, 15 minutes.
3. 3. Heat rice in small skillet over medium-high heat; cook, stirring constantly, until deep golden brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool 5 minutes. Grind rice with spice grinder, mini food processor, or mortar and pestle until it resembles fine meal, 10 to 30 seconds (you should have about 1 tablespoon rice powder).
4. 4. Bring broth to simmer in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork and cook, stirring frequently, until about half of pork is no longer pink, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon rice powder over pork; continue to cook, stirring constantly, until remaining pork is no longer pink, 1 to 1½ minutes longer. Transfer pork to large bowl; let cool 10 minutes.
5. 5. Add remaining 1½ tablespoons fish sauce, remaining 2 teaspoons rice powder, shallots, lime juice, sugar, red pepper flakes, mint, and cilantro to pork; toss to combine. Serve with lettuce leaves.