Cheesecake Factory Thai Lettuce Wraps

By Gigirox

"Top Secret Recipes" version, "Create your own Thai lettuce rolls! Satay chicken strips, carrots,bean sprouts, coconut curry noodles and lettuce leaves with three delicious spicy Thai sauces--peanut, sweet red chili and tamarind-cashew."

Ingredients

• Sweet-and-Sour Cucumber Slices:
• 1 med cucumber
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 2 T sugar
• 2 T rice vinegar
• 1/4 ts salt
• Coconut Curry Chicken Marinade:
• (noodle sauce)
• 1 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 T yellow curry powder
• 1 T fish sauce
• 1 ts ground coriander
• 1 lb.chicken breast tenders(10 strips)
• Peanut Sauce:
• 1/3 cup curry peanut butter
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 T soy sauce
• 2 T rice vinegar
• 4 ts chili garlic sauce(sambal)
• 1/2 ts paprika
• 1/4 ts sesame oil
• 1 T lime juice
• Sweet Red Chili Sauce:
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 T hot water
• 2 T soy sauce
• 4 ts chili garlic sauce(sambal)
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 clove garlic, quartered
• 1 ts lime juice
• 1 ts rice vinegar
• 1/2 ts sesame oil
• 1/8 ts black pepper
• 1/4 ts white sesame seeds
• Tamarind-Cashew Sauce:
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 T chopped cashews
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 ts ground cumin
• 1/2 ts black pepper
• 1/4 ts yellow curry powder
• 1/2 cup honey
• 4 ts rice vinegar
• 2 T water
• 1 T sugar
• 1 ts tamarind paste
• 1 ts balsamic vinegar
• 3 T veg oil
• 3 oz Japanese style noodles(somen)
• 1/2 head red cabbage
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1 cup julienned carrots
• 1 head butterhead(bibb)lettuce
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
• Garnish:
• 1 ts sesame seeds
• 1 T chopped peanuts

Details

Adapted from topsecretrecipes.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Use a peeler and remove just a few strips of the peel from a med size cucumber. You want about half of the peel to stay onthere. Now slice the cuke in half-lengthwise, then use a ts to scoop out the seeds. Slice the two halves thinly. Make thin slices of red onion, measure 1/4 cup of onions. In med bowl, combine 2 T sugar, 2 T rice vinegar and 1/4 ts salt. Stir until sugar is dissolved, then add sliced cuke and onion to bowl and stir. Cover and chill for 4-6 hours. Stir every couple hours.

2. Make the coconut curry chicken marinade by combining coconut milk, yellow curry powder, fish sauce and coriander.Reserve 1/4 cup of this sauce for the noodles, and pour the rest over the chicken tenders in a resealable bag or covered container. Marinade at least 2 hours.

3. Make peanut sauce by combining all
ingredients, except lime juice in a small pan over med heat. Simmer for 3 min, let mixture cool, add lime juice and pour mixture into blender. Blend on med 20 sec. Pour into covered container and chill.

4. Make sweet red chili sauce by dissolving brown sugar in warm water and soy sauce. Pour solution, plus remaining ingredients, excluding sesame seeds, into a food processor, and blend on high until ginger is pureed. Stir in sesame seeds, cover and chill.

5. Make Tamarind-cashew sauce by combining cilantro, gr onion, cashew, garlic, cumin, pepper and curry powder in a food processor and blend until fine. Combine honey, water, rice vinegar, sugar, tamarind paste,and balsamic vinegar in a sm bowl. Heat mixture in microwave for 30-60 sec or until hot, then stir to dissolve sugar and honey. Pour into food processor and mix for 5 sec, thenpour the mixture back into the bowland stir in oil. Cover and chill.

6. Cook noodles following directions on the package(cook for 3-5 min in boiling water, strain, and rinse w/ cold water).Coarsely chop the noodles so that they'll be easier to handle when building the wraps, then mix noodles w/ 1/4 cup of the leftover coconut curry sauce and chill until later.

7. When you're ready to assemble the dish, preheat grill, grill chicken 3-4 min per side. Just before the chicken is done, brush each side w/ reserved peanut sauce.

8. All of the components for the wraps will be prsented on one plate, so you'll need a large platter. Spoon some of the remaining peanut sauce, sweet red chili sauce, and tamarind-cashew sauce into small dishes and arrange them in the center of the platter.

9. Make four "bowls" by slicing half a head of red cabbage in half. Peel off four ourside leaves from the cabbage(the part without the stem)to use as bowls for the lettuce wrap components.

10. Use your hands to load the noodles into one cabbage "bowl",the bean sprouts into another, the carrots into a third, and sliced cucumber into the last one. Arrange these ingredients around the sauces, on the left and right sides of the platter.

11. Peel the leaves off of the butterhead lettuce and fan them out at the top of the plate, above the sauces.Place one leaf at the bottom of the plate, below the sauces,and stack the chicken satay strips on top of this leaf.

12. Pile chopped cilantro between the chicken and the sauces.

13. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the cucumber and noodles, sprinkle chopped peanuts over the chicken, and serve.