Fire Day Friday – Grilled Lettuce Wraps

Welcome to the inaugural Fire Day Friday!


Yes, I know, not a very original concept for me, “Gee, Chris is going to cook something on a grill? I’m SOOOOOOO shocked!” [sarcasm inflection]

But I am going to take a different approach with this theme than on Nibble Me This. There I’m just having fun on my grills without regard to whether someone else could replicate it. Sometimes I am cooking something on a grill to prove it can be done (like recent spaghetti).
Fire Day Fridays are about cooking something with live fire that anyone else can make on any other type of grill. No Big Green Egg required. No special equipment. Fire Day Fridays are about inspiring and getting people to use their own grills.
So it is Friday night, you have gotten home from work and you are ready to relax. You want to enjoy the evening in your back yard spending quality time with your favorite adult beverage, not spend all night in the kitchen, right? Here’s a quick and very easy “Friday night bites”.
Grilled Lettuce Wraps
source: Chris of Nibble Me This
Ingredients
3 ea chicken breasts or thighs, boneless, skinless, cut into 1″ cubes
bbq skewers (if using wood, soak for 1 hour in advance)
8 oz can whole water chestnuts
1 cup Mr. Yoshida’s sauce (or sub a teriyaki sauce)
6 Tbsp chunky peanut butter
2 ea dried red chili pepper (sub 1 Tbsp of red pepper flakes)
2 tsp sesame seeds
1 head bibb lettuce, leaves separated and washed
2 cups cooked sweet jasmine rice
Instructions
Whisk together the Yoshida’s sauce, peanut butter, sesame seeds and chili pepper. Don’t be afraid of the pepper, it isn’t really that hot in the final product. Divide the sauce into 3 portions. You will use them for a marinade, a glaze, and a dipping sauce.

Marinade the chicken with one portion for an hour. If you’re in a hurry, you can skip the hour marinade time, just toss the meat in the mixture.

Skewer 3 pieces of chicken, a water chestnut, and 3 more pieces of chicken. Repeat. TIP: If using thick round skewers, you might split the water chestnut if not careful. Spin the skewer as you push into it so it drills rather than pierces.

Preheat your grill to 350f. If you are using a gas grill, that’s about medium. Place the skewers over the direct heat for 2 minutes. Turn them 1/4 turn, and cook another 2 minutes (4 total so far).

Turn and cook another 2 minutes (6 total so far). Brush with sauce and cook another 2 minutes (8 minutes total cooking time).
Remove from the grill. (You could serve these just as kebabs at this point with the rest of the sauce as a dipping sauce.)
Serve each kebab with a bibb lettuce leaf filled with about 1/4 cup of rice, dice the water chestnut, and top with some rice noodles. Serve with the rest of the dipping sauce.

Then sit around on your patio or deck and enjoy the evening with your family and friends as you eat these. They are a bit messy to eat after the third bite so have plenty of napkins on hand!
Vickie

What a great combination of ingredients – these look very flavorsome. I especially like the touch of chili pepper in the marinade/sauce. This is the kind of meal that warrants warm washcloths or hand towels instead of napkins. 🙂 Beautiful post!

Martha

Awesome Chris! These sound delicious and I love that you are concentrating here on things that can be made on any grill since that’s what most of us have.

Only thing you forgot to add was nice cold beer to go with this lovely Friday evening dinner.

Have a great weekend. Cheers! 🙂

ButterYum

Yummo! Hey, you should try grilling lettuce sometime. Just cut a head of romaine in half lengthwise, and grill over low coals just until it starts to caramelize. Yummy.

🙂
ButterYum