Lentil Lettuce Wraps

I'm really proud of this dish because I more or less came up with it on my own! Well, sort of. I took another favorite recipe of mine, Low-Cal Lettuce Wraps, and replaced the ground turkey with lentils, which we all know is my favorite meat substitute! Needless to say, this was a great idea because it made the dish more plentiful, thus helping it to last longer in the fridge and feed us for more days! Plus, the little lentils absorbed all the flavor beautifully, including the addition of chili paste, which gave them a nice potency. Trying to collect lentils inside large leaves of lettuce also proved slightly easier to do than attempting it with larger chunks of ground turkey. And of course, lentils are cheap which made this a great budget option! We had everything on hand except the lettuce and ginger, making it an easy dish to return to when we want to eat it again. Overall, I highly recommend this dish if you're looking for something with a lot of sweet/spicy flavor and that is fun to eat.

Lentil Lettuce Wraps (serves 4)
2 cups lentils, cooked
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
1 tbsp chili paste with garlic
1 inch ginger, finely chopped (optional)
1 cup water
1 tbsp cornstarch
8-10 large lettuce leaves

Combine lentils, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sugar, green onions, chili paste, ginger, water and cornstarch in a pot, and simmer for 15 minutes. Peel lettuce leaves off of head of lettuce and place on a serving platter. Scoop 4 oz. of the mixture onto a lettuce left, then roll the leaf over the filling. Enjoy (and make a huge mess)! Also works well if you tear lettuce, put it in a bowl, and serve lentils over top.