Asian Beef Lettuce Cups w/ Macadamia Nuts

So, the story goes I had a pound of ground beef and didn’t want to make tacos, bolognese, or a burger. I was craving something asian, heavily spiked with ginger. My friend Darcy put the idea of lettuce cups into my head… so that was my starting point. The wok came out, along with the usual suspects; soy sauce, ginger, chili paste, mirin, brown sugar, brown onion, green onions, and cilantro.

With the wok on high, I added a bunch of ginger, chili paste, thinly diced onions, and the ground beef. Once the onions where of desired caramelized color, I added a bunch of soy, sugar, mirin, and brown sugar. I let this cover the beef and let stew away for about 20 min until the liquid was almost fully absorbed by the meat. At this stage I added some chopped green onions and a little more seasoning to taste, mainly ginger and chili paste. With the beef pretty much ready, and some butter lettuce cups standing by, I stired in some toasted & crushed macadamia nuts, jullianned mint, and some chopped cilantro. The mixture turned out great. The crunch of the mac nuts and the sharp taste of the mint added good depth to the salty and sweet beef. This is a fun dish and can be easily used as an appetizer for a large party, or a main dish to feed four.