It was the summer of 2008. For the first time, Leah found that no one was going to prepare her food for her. And so the adventure began....
Lettuce Rolls with Pork and Pineapple
These sound really odd, but they turned out to be amazing. I'll definitely be making them again! Stolen from Hannaford's Fresh magazine, May-June 2008.
Serves 6
Active Time: 30 min.
Total Time: 30 min.
1 cup jasmine rice
1 2/3 cups water
2 heads Boston lettuce (they suggest hydroponic, but if you wash it well it shouldn't make a difference)
16 oz. crushed pineapple (in a can)
1 red bell pepper
4 scallions
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 tsp minced ginger
4 tsp minced garlic
2 lbs 90% lean ground pork
1/4 tsp black pepper (preferably fresh-ground)
3/4 tsp chili paste (which can sometimes be found in the Thai food section of a grocery store) or Tabasco sauce
1/3 cup Thai fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1. Cook the rice, whatever way has been proven to work for you. The way they suggest is to first rinse and drain it, add the water, and bring it to a simmer over high heat. Stir well. Cover and reduce heat to medium low. Cook for exactly 10 minutes, then remove from heat but do not remove lid. Set aside.
2. While rice is cooking, rinse and core lettuce, separating the leaves and placing them on a serving platter. (Don't get too discouraged, because the outer leaves will be torn-- just do your best, and the inner ones should still be intact.) Drain the crushed pineapple, finely chop the bell pepper, and thinly slice the scallions, and place each in a separate bowl.
3. Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. When hot, add ginger and garlic. Cook and stir until fragrant, about 30 sec. Add pork, black pepper, chili paste. Cook, stirring frequently to break up pork, until pork is cooked through-- about 10-12 minutes. There should be no pink meat.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together fish sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar. (We forgot the brown sugar, but it still turned out great.)
5. Add sauce to pork and mix well. Simmer for 1 minute. Turn off heat, stir in cilantro, and transfer pork to serving bowl.
6. To serve, let everyone assemble their own lettuce rolls. Each should contain a small amount of pork, pineapple, red pepper, and scallion. They suggest putting the rice on the side, but we thought it was better in the roll. Also, note that these rolls are ridiculously messy. Your face and hands will be covered in juice-- which is fine!