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butter lettuce leaves filled with white rice, reddish glazed ground beef and cucumber sticks, with a few sesame seeds over the filling
Melissa Hart

Korean Beef Lettuce Wraps

This beef gets a quick, sticky glaze rather than sitting in a slow cooker all afternoon. Crunchy cucumber and rice tucked into the lettuce turn the filling into dinner. Keep the vegetables cold and the meat hot, and use two smaller leaves together if one thin leaf won't hold its share; no one needs a lapful of sauce halfway through a weeknight meal.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup jasmine rice rinsed
  • 1 1/4 cups water for rice
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 1 lb 90% lean ground beef
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 2 tbsp gochujang
  • 1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 tsp brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp water for glaze
  • 1 cucumber cut into thin sticks
  • 12 large butter lettuce leaves
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Method
 

  1. Start the rice and rice water in a covered saucepan; simmer on low for 15 minutes after boiling, then rest for 5 minutes.
  2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the beef for 7 to 8 minutes, leaving it in small clumps and cooking it to 160°F.
  3. Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Mix gochujang, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and glaze water, then add to the skillet and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes until sticky.
  4. Wash and dry the lettuce and cut the cucumber while the beef cooks.
  5. Put small spoonfuls of rice and beef into the lettuce leaves, add cucumber sticks and divide the sesame seeds over the filling. Serve three wraps per person with any remaining rice alongside.