Asian Fusion

This is one of my husband's favorite meals. He really likes the lettuce wraps and I really like the black bean cakes. The sauce is by far the best part. If you make them together there is quite a bit of chopping involved but many of the ingredients overlap and it is worth a sore wrist!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced into 1/4 inch cubes

2 T oyster sauce

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

2 T sesame oil

2 t minced fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup diced carrots

1 cup shitake mushroom (crimini also work), diced

1 can water chestnuts, diced

1 T rice wine vinegar

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

2 T sugar

1 head iceberg lettuce, leaves separated

Place chicken in a bowl with the oyster sauce and let stand 10 minutes. Heat large pan over high heat and add walnut pieces. Toast 1-2 minutes or until slightly colored. Remove and set aside. Heat wok over high heat, add 1 T of the sesame oil. Add ginger and cook, stirring until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Add chicken and stir fry for 1 minute. Add garlic, carrots, mushrooms and water chestnuts. Stir fry 2 minutes. Add remaining 1 T sesame oil, rice vinegar and sugar. Cook to heat through. Add walnuts, toss to coat. Remove from heat. Spread about 2 T hoisin sauce onto lettuce cups before spooning on chicken mixture. Wrap and serve.

Black Bean Cakes w/ Spicy Cilantro Sauce

2 T olive oil

1/2 cup onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup green bell pepper, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 can black beans, drained

2/3 cups fine dry bread crumbs

1/3 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1 large egg

1 cup yellow cornmeal

canola oil for frying

Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic and cook stirring occasionally, until softened. In a bowl, mash 1 can of the beans with the back of a fork and stir in the remaining beans, onion mixture, bread crumbs, and cilantro and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the egg.

Form bean mixture into 8 patties (mixture will be wet and soft). Gently dredge patties in corneal and transfer to a plate. Refrigerate the cakes for 30 minutes and up to 12 hours.

Pour enough canola oil in a skillet to coat bottom. Heat the oil over medium heat until hot but not smoking. working in batches, cook the patties, turning once, until browned, about 1 12 minutes per side. Transfer the cakes to paper towels to drain.

Serve with the sauce:

Spicy Cilantro Sauce

3/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

1/3 cup canola oil

3 T soy sauce

1 garlic clove

1 T fresh lime juice

1/2 jalapeno chili, roughly chopped

salt and pepper

Add all ingredients to food processor and blend until combined. Serve with Black Bean Cakes.

Enjoy!