Grilled Beef Lettuce Wrap

Sweet & Savory Summer Treat with Sweet Corn

Each year, around the end of June throughout July,  fresh sweet corn is available in most of the store. It reminds me of my school days when I was young. Traditionally June has always been the start of school days in Myanmar since I was little. When the Monsoon start, the schools from high school to kindergarten open their doors. Sometimes, we played in the puddles in front of the school gate on heavy rainy days at end of school. We never complained about the heavy rain or curse the monsoon.

I remember the steam sweet corn, my dad bought for us as an after_school snack. Sometimes at home, mom cooked corn with shallots as a side dish for the family meal. We could also make corn fritter with fresh corn and tempura batter. Also, we could cook it with sweet sticky rice and turmeric powder to make sweet rice snacks as an afternoon treat paired with green tea.

Sometimes in the summer, we usually grilled corn on the cob to enjoy with other grilled meat and vegetable also a satisfying meal too. We could also make the grilled corn Asian style salsa to mix with grilled beef to enjoy as low carb meal. As I grow some herbs as summer vegetable, the lemon basil, Thai sweet basil and lime leaf are a great contribution to the salads and soups.

The Thai lettuce cup menu used to be available at one of our favorite restaurants, but now they have removed that item. I really do not know the reason. I would like to try making that dish myself at home. Hope it will be enjoyable for others too.

Grilled Beef (Grilled Meat) Lettuce cup in Asian style ( 3-4 Serving)

Ingredients

1 lb          Beef tenderloin ( or chicken)
2 counts   Butterhead Lettuce head
1 cup       Red Onion (Small Diced)
2 cup       Grilled Corn
1/2 cup    Cucumber ( Small Diced)
1 cup       Red sweet bell pepper ( small cube diced)
1/2 cup    Cubed Celery
1 tbsp      Garlic (finely chopped)
1 cup       Thai sweet basil (small chopped)
1 tsp        Thai green chili ( small chopped)
1 tbsp      sugar
1 tbsp      freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp      Fish sauce
1 tbsp      garlic oil or olive oil (optional)
2 tbsp      Freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tbsp      Hoisin Sauce
1/2 cup    Chicken broth
1/2 cup    crushed peanut ( optional)

Instructions

1. Rub salt and pepper to the pre-cut tenderloin meat. Grill as you prefer.
    I love medium well just to get a little pink color in it. Set it aside to cool it down.
2. In the bowl, add cold water and peel the lettuce leaves to clean the sands and other impurities. Rinse 2-3 time with cold water and strain.
3. In the cooled and dry bowl, add olive oil, fish sauce, green chili, lime juice, orange juice and chicken broth then mix with the whip.
4. When the meat is cooled, dice them into small cubes.
5. Then in the dressing bowl ( step 3), add cubed meat, cut grilled corn, cubed cucumber, diced red bell pepper, celery, onion and chopped basil. Toss all the ingredients together with the dressing thoroughly.
6. We can prepare the dish with meat salad bowl in the middle surrounded with clean lettuce leaves.
7. As the final touch, add a few sesame seeds, the crushed peanut and cilantro leaves as the garnish on top of the meat salad.

( Note: We could also use chicken satay meat instead of red meat ( grilled beef )