When I began cooking for myself a month ago, I naively thought that I would be like the Sunday meal planners I see on Reddit: I would cook an entire week’s worth of meals over the weekend, and eat them throughout the week. Rinse and repeat.
The first week I cooked an entire bag of black beans, but by meal three I knew that this eating the same thing was not going to work out. I didn’t even want to look at another bowl of black beans, let alone eat them for every meal. Needless to say, I now try to only make one or two servings of a recipe at a time.
Whenever I do end up with leftovers, I try to repurpose them into something new. These lettuce wraps originate from when I was making my favorite mushroom dumplings. Since I didn’t have enough dough for all the filling (I halved the dough recipe and made 1 ½ times as much filling, whoops), I decided to marinate shrimp in the filling and create a stir fry.
The result was flavorful and satisfying lettuce wraps, which my friend and I topped with avocado and spinach sauteed in miso ginger broth. (It was a great appetizer for the peanut butter, chocolate, and banana fresh-made-gelato milkshakes we had later. ;))
Shrimp & Mushroom Lettuce Wraps
Asian Mushroom Base
In a pan, sautee until the water is mainly evaporated:
- ¾ cups diced white mushrooms
- ¼ cup diced shiitake mushrooms*
- ½ tsp oil
Add, and cook another 2 minutes:
1 cloves garlic, diced
Take off heat and stir in:
- 1 tbsp minced green onions
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- ¼ tsp sesame oil
- ¼ tsp chili oil
- ½ tsp soy sauce
Taste, and add a pinch of salt, or a bit more soy sauce if desired.
Allow to cool, placing it in the fridge to expedite this process if desired. Use as dumpling filling or as a base for any asian flavored recipe.
Shrimp Lettuce Wrap Filling
Stir together:
- ¾ recipe Asian Mushroom Base
- ½ tsp soy sauce
- 8 ounces fresh shrimp, chopped into pieces
Cover and allow to marinate for at least half an hour.
Heat a pan to medium-high heat and add a bit of oil. Sautee the shrimp and mushroom mixture for about 3-5 minutes, or until the shrimp pieces are pink but still tender.
Stir in the remaining ¼ recipe of the Asian Mushroom Base.
Serve with all, some, or none of the following:
- Large iceberg or romaine lettuce leaves
- Sliced avocado
- Spinach sauteed in miso ginger broth (I love this broth a lot)
- Sushi rice! (next time)
- Pickled or fresh shredded carrots/cabbage
Chomps of Life 