You know, Koreans were eating their meals “protein style” way before In-n-Out coined the term and made it all trendy. If you’ve had Korean barbecue, you may have noticed you get a plate of lettuce leaves to wrap your meat in (it’s called ssam). So when I’m trying to eat a little healthier, these lettuce wraps are a go-to recipe. Using ginger/garlic/green onions give it a nice flavor punch, and I use minimal oil and salt.

If you have peanuts and bamboo shots, add them! I didn’t have any on hand and had to omit them this time.

You will need:

• 3 oz shiitake mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 package ground turkey
• 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon sambal olek or chili garlic sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon ginger, finely chopped
• 5 garlic gloves, finely chopped
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• Green lettuce

Get your ingredients chopped first. Ginger, garlic, and green onion is like the holy trinity of Asian cooking.

In a large pan, heat the sesame oil. Keep your heat on medium, and add the Asian holy trinity, along with the chopped shiitake mushrooms.

Give it a quick stir, and once the trinity starts to become fragrant, add the ground turkey. Keep stirring over heat, and the meat will start to brown (“brown” is a funny term for ground turkey. Let’s be real, it “grays”).

After about five minutes, add the sambal olek, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Stir your mixture again to make sure it’s all mixing together nicely, and keep cooking on medium to high heat for another 5-10 minutes.

Now that you’ve added the sauce, the mixture will start to brown up:

Get your lettuce ready by washing the leaves and drying them off. Spoon the turkey mixture onto the lettuce and use them like little Asian tortillas.

Leftover can be easily stored and eaten again later in the week!