LIGHT SUMMER ORIENTAL DINNER

I wanted to use a pound of ground pork that I had in the freezer for my summer dinner.  Initially, I thought of making homemade wontons.  This was a favorite in our home growing up.  We used to have an assembly line to make them up to 200 at a time.

 

My family now loves to eat them on 'hors d'oeurvre nights' which is usually on Sundays.  I make the filling and my oldest daughter assembles them.  The two of us deep fry them until light brown, drain and freeze them when cooled. I freeze them in gallon sized zip lock bags. When ready for dinner, I take out as many as I'm planning on using and put them on a cookie sheet.  They only need about 7 minutes in the oven and they are ready.

 

So, I went to the store to buy the won ton wrappers, fresh ginger, Napa cabbage and green onions.

 

When I returned home, I decided against making the won tons and decided to make lettuce wraps using the filling instead.

 

 

WON TON FILLING

1 lb. ground pork
1 cup Napa Cabbage, sliced thinly
3 scallions
2 T. soy sauce
2 pieces of grated fresh ginger
1 can water chestnuts, chopped
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. salt

Cook all of the ingredients in a pan.  Cool until ready to reheat for dinner.

These are not your Pei Wei lettuce wraps.  This recipe doesn't have a sweet side to it, but I think with the lettuce leaves, it will have a great crunchy taste(and lower in calories then the fried version).

 

 

Once all the ingredients were cooked completely, I place the mixture in a bowl and refrigerate. 



  All that I need  to do now was to wash the iceberg lettuce and pull apart the leaves.

 

 

To accompany the wraps, I made a recipe of our family favorite Oriental Salad.

 

 

ORIENTAL SALAD

2 heads of Napa cabbage, thinly sliced
4 green onions, diagonally sliced

CRUMBLES

Toast 2 packages of Ramen noodles that have been crumbled in 2 T. butter, 1 pkg. of sliced almonds and 1 bottle of sesame seeds.  Let cool. 

DRESSING

Combine 1/4 c. cider vinegar, 1/2 c. sugar, 1/2 c. canola oil, 1 T. sesame oil, 2 garlic buds-smashed and 2 T. soy sauce.  Heat up all ingredients until the sugar is dissolved. Let cool.

All of the ingredients are ready to be tossed.

 

 Toss greens, heat up the dressing and add the crumbles.

 

 The sweetness of the Oriental Salad combined with the tasty lettuce wraps make a great make-ahead   dinner for your family or friends.

 

What a delightful light summer dinner without heating up the kitchen!  I love that.