Thai Chicken Wraps

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I made these yummy, crunchy, flavorful wraps after church last Sunday for the following reasons:

1. I was alone in the house.
2. I had chicken I needed to cook.
3. I was in the mood for something crunchy and fresh.
4. I was in the mood for something spicy and flavorful.
5. I wanted to watch the Real Housewives of Atlanta marathon.
6. I was hungry.

I literally just grabbed at whatever I could find, and before I continue let me be clear about something: There’s probably nothing “Thai” about the chicken in these wraps, or in the sauce I drizzled on the end. I don’t know for sure what makes Thai chicken…well, Thai chicken. But as I was making the wraps, I had in mind the Thai Chicken Pizza at CPK, which I always used to order and pick off the chicken in the days I was a vegetarian. No, I didn’t order it without the chicken. I just ordered the normal pizza and picked off the chicken.

I was weird. Also, it’s hard to imagine there was once a time when I actually denied myself a whole category of food. I just can’t relate at this age and stage of my life.

I’m actually providing two separate approaches with the chicken: One takes a teeny bit more time, one’s a bit more simple.

Come along with me on this Thai Chicken Wrap Real Housewives of Atlanta Alone in the House and Want Crunchy Food journey.

Option 1

For the first option, I just made some simple stir fry chicken: I diced up a couple of boneless skinless chicken breasts.

 

Then I just pulled things out of my wazoo. I mean my pantry. Things like rice wine vinegar…

 

Soy sauce…

 

Sesame oil…

 

Hot chili oil…

 

And some lime juice!

I had no idea what I was doing. All I know is I was following my heart.

 

Then poured off a little over half of the mixture to use a little later.

 

Now, into the bowl where I mixed up all the flavorful goodness, I threw in the chicken pieces and the squeezed lime halves.

 

Then I mixed them with my hands and let the chicken sit a bit.

 

Now, in the separate dish with the extra marinade, throw in a teaspoon or so of cornstarch…

 

Whisk it around with a fork…

 

Then pour in a little honey, whisk it some more, and set it aside.

Now, if I had some fresh ginger, I would have minced it and thrown it in here.

But I didn’t have fresh ginger.

Please feel terribly sorry for me. Thank you.

 

Now, grab some peanut oil (or canola oil would be fine) and pour it into a skillet over high (or medium-high) heat.

 

When the skillet is very, very, very, extremely, very, totally hot, throw in the chicken pieces in a single layer.

 

Let them cook on one side for a good minute, then stir it around and cook it for two to three minutes, or until just about done in the middle.

 

Reduce the heat to low and pour in the extra marinade (the stuff mixed with cornstarch and honey and not ginger, because if you remember, I did not have ginger.)

(Violins! I hear them!)

 

Stir it all around and let the chicken cook on low for a minute or so. The sauce should immediately thicken and coat the chicken with love.

 

At the end of cooking, sprinkle in a good amount of red pepper flakes…

 

Then remove the chicken to a plate and set it aside. You can make this ahead of time, then store the chicken in a Ziploc in the fridge so it’ll be there, nice and chilled, when you’re in the mood!

By the way, this is just a quick, easy way to stir fry chicken for any purpose. Serve it over rice and you’re home free.

 

Next, lop off the top and bottom of a couple of carrots…

 

Cut them into slices…

 

And cut the slices into strips.

 

Then cut a cucumber in half and cut the halves into half again.

 

Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds…

 

And slice them into strips.

 

Then grab some lettuce! You can shred it, or you can just use whole leaves.

 

To drizzle over the whole thing, I made a little sauce that started with peanut butter. (This is a wacky, wonderful peanut butter I just tried recently. Oh my goodness, is it good. It’s got flax seeds in it, which makes for a lovely crunch, and it makes me want to be a better man. I mean woman.)

 

This ain’t no paid advertisement. This is merely the peanut butter I used. Amen.

 

To the peanut butter, I poured in a little honey for sweetness…

 

A little soy sauce…

 

Then I stirred it, tasted it, and added even more soy sauce. It needed the salt!

 

Then I doctored it further with lime juice…

 

A teeny hit of hot chili oil…

 

And a little water…

 

To make it nice and drizzle-able.

 

Then, upon further tasting, I decided it needed more heat. So I threw in some red pepper flakes.

 

Then it was time to build it! I laid the lettuce leaves in the middle of a whole wheat tortilla…

 

Then added plenty of the chicken pieces…

 

Followed by the carrots, cucumbers…

 

And a very, very generous drizzle of the peanut sauce.

 

Then I rolled it up (I could barely get it to close), sliced it in half…

 

And yum! A delicious chicken wrap just for me.

OPTION 2

Here’s another approach you can take, which is a little quicker: Pound a chicken breast between two sheets of plastic wrap (or a big ziploc bag)…

 

Then throw it on the grill! (Or a grill pan.) Salt it along the way, and you can rub it with a little oil (or even a little sesame oil)…

 

And grill it on both sides until it’s all done.

 

Then just slice it into thin strips.

 

Another way you can assemble the wrap is to shred/chop the lettuce rather than using whole leaves…

 

Then come the carrots and celery…

 

Then comes the chicken strips…

 

Then the peanut sauce (see the flax seeds?)

 

I thought more crunch would be good, so I grabbed some peanuts…

 

And sprinkled a few on top.

 

Then I rolled it up real tight-like…

 

Sliced it in half…

 

And the girl was happy. (The Giving Tree reference. Tell me you’ve read it.) As you can see, I threw some cilantro leaves on the plate in tribute to the fact that I forgot to put them inside the wrap. Darn! And the wrap really needed the cilantro freshness. I also wanted to throw a little thinly sliced red onion in there, too…but I was in a hurry and didn’t want to rifle through my onion basket. But I think you could throw in any number of things: bean sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, even blanched asparagus if you want to get all silly about it.

I love fresh, crunchy wraps,
Pioneer Woman

Here’s the handy dandy printable with both options, along with lots of variations!