Delicious and bursting with flavour! To serve, allow each person to spoon a portion of the beef into a lettuce leaf. Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito and enjoy!
I wish I could give this 4.5 stars, because it's dangerously close to a 5-star recipe, but it's not quite there. I gotta tell you, this recipe is an AWESOME way to sneak in those veggie soy crumbles (looks like ground beef, but doesn't always taste like it...except it TOTALLY works in this recipe). Definitely make the sauce as suggested by another reviewer (1 tsp sesame oil, 2 T soy, 2 T rice vinegar, 1 T chile paste)...in my opinion, the sauce makes this a 5-star recipe! I used regular fresh ginger rather than pickled, and shredded some carrots to serve on top of everything. I would have LOVED to have those nice crunchy noodle-y things, but once I heard they are fried in oil, I had to say "no thanks!" I'm definitely going to make these again (they're really easy to make, by the way) and will also pass on the recipe! - 19 Nov 2007 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
Loved it! Added about 2Tbs of chili paste for spice. Next time I am going to make with ground turkey and add thinly sliced carrots and rice noodles for crunch. I made an asian dipping sauce to add on like at PF Changs (1tsp sesame oil, 2T soy, 2T rice vinegar, 1T chile paste, sugar and i green onion slices) - 01 Aug 2006 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
I've been eating lettuce wrap at many Chinese restaurants since I was a little kid, so I have over 3 decades worth of eating this stuff. I've tried many different variations and can attest that this recipe is top-notch. However, instead of ground beef, most Chinese restaurants use ground pork or duck. Except for substituting ground beef for ground pork and omitting the pickled ginger (since I didn't have any in the house), I made no changes to the recipe. As a suggestion, try serving the meat over a bed of crispy rice noodles (vermicelli) as I've seen done in many restaurants. Simply heat some oil and dunk a small handful of noodles at a time...they crisp up in a couple of seconds. Not only does it make the presentation nice, it adds a nice crisp crunch to the meat mixture. Also, for extra burst of flavour, put a bit of hoisin sauce (see recipe here as well) before wrapping it up in a lettuce leaf, as one other person suggested. - 18 Oct 2005 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)