Fusion Recipes

I love the lightness of Thai lettuce wraps. I also love the richness of Korean Gochujang paste - so I thought why not combine them? My first attempt at lettuce wraps, I used some leftover stir fried ground pork, fried up some rice with Gochujang, sliced some boiled egg, pan-fried some shrimp, ground some peanuts and cut up some green onions and cilantro. That version worked well. (This meal works best when you have small amounts of leftovers of different dishes - perhaps on leftover day to finish off all the leftovers.) In my second go-around with lettuce wraps, I stir fried some thinly cut jicama (known as bang kwang in Malaysia) in Gochujang paste as a substitute for the rice I had in my previous version - Malaysian Popiah Inspired. I kept the rest of the recipe pretty much the same. Feel free to use leftover curries or grilled/baked meat with the lettuce wraps. I can visualize a Caribbean version of this recipe working using Jerk meats, potatoes, and oven baked sweet red peppers. Or a curried version, with Tikka Masala Chicken or any curried meat and potatoes, and cilantro. Go ahead, be creative! That's what fusion cooking is all about... Perhaps surprise your party guests with something they can put together themselves…