Korean BBQ Lettuce Wraps with a Pickled Veggie Slaw

This right here was a case of how do I use this pound of ground beef I have in the freezer for something that’s not a taco or a burger… classic. Haha so as the story goes I turned to a lettuce wrap. I was half inspired by Chrissy Tiegen’s famous chicken lettuce wraps (which I have made several times before and loved) and also by banh mi which is usually served with some type of pickled vegetable on top.

Now like I said this recipe all started by finding a way to use my ground beef, so I made this recipe with beef. However this recipe can certainly work with ground chicken, turkey or pork for sure. If I were to make it again, I would probably do ground chiken.

The pickled vegetables were a fun thing for me because it was my first time using a Daikon radish. This type of radish is indeed used in Korean dishes like Daikon Radish Salad and Braised Daikon Radish. It taste pretty similar to a red radish in that is had a peppery taste. With the radish I also pickled carrots, cucumber and red onion.

While this is a recipe for lettuce wraps, I also had some extra rice paper sheet lying around and thought that all the same ingredients would work wrapped up in rice paper. I was right. I dipped those is sweet chili sauce and was de-lighted by the outcome.

Makes 4 Servings (12-14 wraps)

Ingredients

Pickled Veggie Slaw

• 1 Daikon Radish, thinly cut

• 1 cucumber, thinly cut

• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

• 5-6 carrots, thinly sliced

• 1/4 c rice vinegar

• ~ 2 c white vinegar

• 2 t sugar

Jasmine Rice

• 1 c brown jasmine rice

• 2 c water

BBQ Beef

• 1 lb ground beef

• 1/4 c soy sauce

• 1 T rice vinegar

• 1 t sesame oil

• 1 T chili paste

• 1 T honey

• 1 T brown sugar

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/2 t fresh ginger, minced

• 1/4 t pepper

• 2 t corn starch

Other

• 1 head butterhead/Boston lettuce

• 1 jalapeno, thinly sliced

• sesame seeds

Directions

1. Place your veggies In a jar or other sealable container. Pour the rice vinegar over top and then pour white vinegar until all your veggies are covered. Add your sugar, seal and give the jar a shake. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

2. In a small pot on high heat bring your rice and water to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover and cook for 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile in a medium size pan on medium heat, cook your ground beef until pink. While that cooks you can whisk the remaining BBQ Beef ingredients together in a small bowl.

4. Drain the fat from the pan and then add the sauce mixture to your beef. Raise the heat to medium/medium-high and bring the sauce to a simmer. Cook for about 4 minutes or until sauce thickens and coats the beef.

5. To serve top a leaf of butterhead lettuce with your rice, beef and pickled veggies. Top with thinly sliced jalapeno and sesame seeds.

Notes

Gluten-free: This recipe is gluten-free.

Dairy-free: This recipe is dairy-free.

Daikon Radish: What the heck is a daikon radish. Here is what it looks like. It taste very similar to red radishes so you can substitute those in if you’d like.

Brown Jasmine Rice: I used brown jasmine rice because it’s what I had, but you can certainly us white jasmine rice or another rice of your choice.

Ground Beef: I used ground beef because I had some I needed to use up but I can also use ground chicken, turkey or pork.

Wraps: This recipe will also work if you want to make them into spring rolls with rice paper. It also might work good as a taco with flour tortillas. See the image below to see how I made them with rice paper!