Celtuce stir fry

And now! The moment we've all been waiting for! What to do with celtuce!

This one has a bit of a story:

Akshay assisted me with Farm-to-Table camp on Thursday of last week, when the campers were making a PF Chang's copycat lettuce wrap recipe with ground turkey, mushrooms, onions, and water chestnuts. He suggested using celtuce in the veggie mix, which I offered as an option to the campers. Most used at least some and I realized when tasting their creations how adaptable this mild-flavored vegetable is with other strong flavors (like the delicious sauce that goes on the wraps).

I adapted the recipe further at home this week, eliminating the water chestnuts, onions, and meat and using only celtuce, green onions, and mushrooms as the vegetable filling. Jonathan, who spent most of the time I was cooking intentionally ignoring what was going into dinner, deemed it "quite acceptable," which, if it's not clear, was high praise. We ate it over rice, but I think you could just as easily enjoy it as a lettuce wrap for the PF Chang's experience.

By the way, children can be very astute when it comes to flavor and texture; one camper called the celtuce "Peanut Butter Celery" for its nuttiness and crunchiness.

Celtuce stir fry 
Adapted from here, by way of my work here.
Ingredients

• 1 tbsp. cooking oil (e.g. canola)
• 2 celtuce(s?), peeled and chopped small
• 1/2 lb. mushrooms (about 7 medium-sized mushrooms), chopped small
• 5-6 large green onions, white and most of green parts, chopped
• 1 large clove garlic (2 small cloves), minced
•  Stir Fry Sauce
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. rice vinegar
• Special sauce (see below)

Directions

• Make the stir fry sauce by whisking the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar in a small bowl.
• Heat 1 tbsp. oil in the skillet over medium-high-to-high heat.
• Add the celtuce and stir fry for a few minutes, stirring constantly.
• Add the garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.Add the mushrooms and stir fry for about two minutes, stirring constantly.
• Add the green onions and stir fry sauce. Stir to combine and heat through.
• Remove from heat and place filling in a bowl.
• Place filling over rice, in lettuce leaves, or over lettuce (as a salad). 

Special sauce 
Ingredients

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp. ketchup
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. garlic and red chili sauce 
• 1 tsp. Chinese hot mustard, or 1 tsp. of a mixture of mustard powder mixed with hot water until loosely pasty

Directions

• In a small bowl or jar mix the sugar with the water.
• Add the soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice, sesame oil, and garlic and red chili paste. Mix well.
• Add 1/2 tsp. mustard to the sauce and mix.
• Taste and add more mustard to taste.
• Taste add more garlic and red chili sauce to taste (it’s spicy).
• Adjust any other ingredients.
• Refrigerate until ready to serve.