Ground Turkey, Shiitake and Cashew Lettuce Cups

Published June 19, 2024

Media 1 of 1
Total Time
20 minutes
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Rating
5(1,721)
Comments
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Salad and stir-fry in one, lettuce cups are a relaxed summer dinner that combine textures and temperatures to great effect. Cool, crunchy lettuce leaves smeared with hoisin sauce are all that are needed to contain this quick-cooking filling on a hot day, although steamed rice and a cold beer would make lovely accompaniments. The filling can be adapted easily by substituting ground pork for the turkey, firm tofu for the mushrooms, carrots or peas for the celery and peanuts or pine nuts for the cashews.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 3 tablespoons Shaoxing wine or dry sherry 

  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce

  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce, plus more to taste

  • ½ teaspoon ground white pepper, plus more to taste

  • 2 tablespoons peanut or sunflower oil (or another neutral-tasting oil)

  • 1 pound ground turkey

  • 4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, tough stems removed, torn into 1-inch pieces (about 2 cups)

  • 2 scallions, thinly sliced, dark green slices reserved for garnish 

  • 2 celery stalks, diced (about ¾ cup), tender leaves reserved for garnish 

  • 2 tablespoons roughly chopped cashews 

  • Cold, crisp lettuce leaves, such as iceberg, little gem or butter lettuce

  • Hoisin sauce, for serving

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Whisk the wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce and white pepper together in a small bowl or cup; set aside.

  2. Step 2

    Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high until just beginning to smoke. Add turkey and, using a wooden spoon or spatula, spread the meat to the edges in an even layer. Let cook until the bottom of the meat is deeply browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Then stir the turkey, breaking up the meat into small pieces.

  3. Step 3

    Stir in the mushrooms and white and light green scallion slices and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan if anything begins to stick, until the mushrooms are glistening and scallions have softened, about 2 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Stir in the reserved sauce, the diced celery and the chopped cashews and cook until celery is warmed and meat is cooked through, about 1 minute. Immediately remove from heat. Taste and add soy sauce and white pepper as needed.

  5. Step 5

    To serve, transfer to a platter and scatter with reserved scallion greens and celery leaves. At the table, smear a small amount of hoisin sauce on a lettuce leaf and fill with a spoonful of the turkey mixture.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
1,721 user ratings
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Comments

I added 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger and a bunch of fresh cilantro. The butter lettuce fell apart so I turned it into a salad. It was delicious!

Our local “upscale” Chinese takeout in Northern California does a version of this with small diced jicama. And pine nuts instead of cashews. Both which I added successfully, plus some grated ginger. Some of us always play around with these basic recipes. Thanks for the great reminder. Will make this again.

So delicious. Couldn’t find oyster sauce, (I live in a rural community), so used some anchovies in olive oil.

Made a version with what I had: Mirin instead of cooking wine Peanuts instead of cashews Cucumber instead of celery Grey dove mushrooms instead of shiitake And I added jalapeños I had used to make simple syrup…they lent a nice bit of spicy sweetness. Added rice as well. Good, easy, adaptable meal.

Worked very well. Teenager asked for leftovers for lunch the next day = success.

I will have to try this again, since I did not have all the ingredients (shitakes) on hand, and may have misfired the execution of the recipe somehow. Still, I did not find this as enjoyable as other larb-like recipes.

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Credits

By Cybelle Tondu

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