Hoisin Chicken Rice Bowls

Hoisin - you might be unfamiliar with hoisin sauce. I wasn't, either until I tried yummy Vietnamese food a few years ago. A lot of Vietnamese restaurants serve peanut sauce with spring rolls (glass noodles, cilantro leaves, and shrimp wrapped with see-through rice papers). The peanut sauce, which is one of my favorites, is usually made with hoisin sauce and peanut chunks. If you haven't tried hoisin sauce, it's time that you did. It's got a wonderful flavor, it's a little sweet but not too sweet. Some people say it tastes similar to teriyaki sauce but I think they taste different.

So this great chicken dish is stirfried in hoisin sauce and different crispy vegetables and served with rice and romane lettuce. You can wrap some chicken and rice in romane lettuce and eat it that way. Asians love lettuce wraps. And I'm sure you will, too, even if you aren't Asian. :)

Hoisin Chicken Rice Bowls

Adapted and changed slightly from  "My Kitchen Cafe"

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon canola oil

1/2  red pepper, diced small

5 brown mushrooms, diced small

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 average-sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced small

1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, drained, diced small

2 teaspoons teriyaki sauce (you can find this by the soy sauce)

4 tablespoons hoisin sauce

3 cups of hot cooked rice

romaine lettuce leaves

sesame seeds

green onions, thinly sliced

chili sauce (optional)

Directions:

Heat oil over medium high heat in a large saute pan. Add red pepper and mushrooms and saute for 5 - 6 minutes until tender. Add garlic and saute an additional minute. Add chicken to pan and cook for 6 - 8 minutes or until cooked through. Stir chicken and red pepper mixture occasionally while it cooks. Add water chestnuts, teriyaki sauce and hoisin sauce and stir to coat the chicken and vegetables. Continue cooking until heated through.

To serve, line a single serving size bowl with romaine leaves. Top with a large scoop of rice, some of the hoisin chicken, and a sprinkle of the sesame seeds and scallions.

Alternately, you can serve the hoisin chicken mixture wrapped in lettuce leaves or omit the lettuce leaves completely and serve the chicken over rice. 

Put a little drop of chili sauce in each wrap before eating.