Ground Turkey, Shiitake and Cashew Lettuce Cups

Published June 20, 2024

Ground Turkey, Shiitake and Cashew Lettuce Cups
Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.
Total Time
20 minutes
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Rating
5(1,188)
Comments
Read comments

Salad and stir-fry in one, lettuce cups are a relaxed summer dinner that combine textures and temperatures to great effect. Cool, crunchy lettuce leaves smeared with hoisin sauce are all that are needed to contain this quick-cooking filling on a hot day, although steamed rice and a cold beer would make lovely accompaniments. The filling can be adapted easily by substituting ground pork for the turkey, firm tofu for the mushrooms, carrots or peas for the celery and peanuts or pine nuts for the cashews.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 3tablespoons Shaoxing wine or dry sherry 
  • 1tablespoon oyster sauce
  • 2teaspoons soy sauce, plus more to taste
  • ½teaspoon ground white pepper, plus more to taste
  • 2tablespoons peanut or sunflower oil (or another neutral-tasting oil)
  • 1pound ground turkey
  • 4ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, tough stems removed, torn into 1-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
  • 2scallions, thinly sliced, dark green slices reserved for garnish 
  • 2celery stalks, diced (about ¾ cup), tender leaves reserved for garnish 
  • 2tablespoons roughly chopped cashews 
  • Cold, crisp lettuce leaves, such as iceberg, little gem or butter lettuce
  • Hoisin sauce, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Whisk the wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce and white pepper together in a small bowl or cup; set aside.

  2. Step 2

    Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high until just beginning to smoke. Add turkey and, using a wooden spoon or spatula, spread the meat to the edges in an even layer. Let cook until the bottom of the meat is deeply browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Then stir the turkey, breaking up the meat into small pieces.

  3. Step 3

    Stir in the mushrooms and white and light green scallion slices and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan if anything begins to stick, until the mushrooms are glistening and scallions have softened, about 2 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Stir in the reserved sauce, the diced celery and the chopped cashews and cook until celery is warmed and meat is cooked through, about 1 minute. Immediately remove from heat. Taste and add soy sauce and white pepper as needed.

  5. Step 5

    To serve, transfer to a platter and scatter with reserved scallion greens and celery leaves. At the table, smear a small amount of hoisin sauce on a lettuce leaf and fill with a spoonful of the turkey mixture.

Ratings

5 out of 5
1,188 user ratings
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Comments

I added 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger and a bunch of fresh cilantro. The butter lettuce fell apart so I turned it into a salad. It was delicious!

Our local “upscale” Chinese takeout in Northern California does a version of this with small diced jicama. And pine nuts instead of cashews. Both which I added successfully, plus some grated ginger. Some of us always play around with these basic recipes. Thanks for the great reminder. Will make this again.

So delicious. Couldn’t find oyster sauce, (I live in a rural community), so used some anchovies in olive oil.

So tasty and easy! I’m sure it’s great as written, but I was just looking for a way to use a pound of ground beef and some shiitakes I had on hand. So I used those, some frozen peas and half an onion I had, bumped up the sauce measurements, and served over rice. So good!

Made as is. A tad too salty, but I typically eat low sodium. I was surprised by the saltiness of the oyster sauce. Will make again but with low sodium soy sauce. This is a great dish to make and freeze! Thank you NYTC!

This was a total 5* with the added two garlic cloves, ginger, and extra sauce. But without that a 4*. I added thinly sliced asparagus and chopped green beans. Plus coriander for those who like it. End result: not a morsel left, serving dish licked clean.

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Credits

By Cybelle Tondu

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