On a hot day, there's nothing more refreshing than a spicy and clean tasting lettuce wrap. These Thai wraps have flavors of sweet, sour, salty, spicy, and bitter and are incredibly easy to make.
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time3 minutesmins
Total Time18 minutesmins
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Thai
Keyword: gluten free, lettuce wraps, pork
Servings: 4people (4 wraps each)
Calories: 366kcal
Author: Chef Sara Furcini
Ingredients
pinchof kosher salt
1clovegarlic
3dry Thai chilies
1shallot
1-inchpiece galangalginger as substitute
2-inchpiece lemongrasstough outside layer removed
1Tshrimp paste
3Tpalm sugar creamunrefined cane sugar as substitute
1Ttamarind pastesold as a solid block with seeds removed
2Twater
1Tcooking oilrefined coconut oil, palm oil, or lard
1poundground pork
2headsbutter leaf lettucecleaned and leaves separated
Garnish
toasted peanuts, diced shallot, diced thai chili, shredded carrot, cilantro, and lime for serving
Instructions
With a mortar and pestle, pound the salt, garlic, dried thai chilies, shallot, galangal, and lemongrass to form a smooth paste. Add shrimp paste and mash to combine. In a small pot, bring the palm sugar cream, tamarind paste, and water to a simmer over medium heat. Use a spoon to break up any chunks as much as possible, then strain using a sieve into the mortar and pestle. Use your spoon to scrape the strained tamarind sauce off of the bottom of the sieve.
Warm a saute pan over medium heat with the oil. When it's hot, add the ground pork and transfer the paste to the pan. Saute, mixing with a wood spoon, 3 minutes. Keep the hot pork separate until ready to eat so as not to wilt the lettuce. I recommend serving with lime, diced shallot, chili, peanuts, cilantro, and carrot. Green papaya/mango would also make a nice topping.