By Callahan Christmas. The annual immersion in Irish Catholic holiday excess — matching pajamas, competitive gift-wrapping, Eileen's ham, Patrick's eggnog, and the Callahan tradition of everyone opening one gift on Christmas Eve while arguing about whose turn it is. I brought karaage again, because it is expected now, because I am the karaage supplier, because the Callahans have incorporated Japanese fried chicken into their Christmas the way they incorporated me — gradually, enthusiastically, without asking too many questions about the recipe.
Miya is twenty months old and this is her second Christmas but her first with any understanding. She saw the tree and pointed and said "pretty light" and then tried to eat an ornament. We removed the low-hanging ornaments. The tree looked uneven. Nobody cared. The tree is for the child. The child wants to eat the tree. These are the terms of the arrangement.
Brian gave me a scarf — blue cashmere, soft, expensive, chosen with care. It was a good gift. Not the gift I wanted — I wanted a morning alone, which costs nothing and cannot be wrapped — but a good gift, a gift that says "I know you feel cold" if not "I know what you feel." I wore the scarf and said thank you and meant it, because the scarf is warm and the intention behind it is warm and sometimes warm is enough.
I gave Brian a subscription to a beer magazine, which was practical and unimaginative and exactly what he wanted, because Brian is a man whose desires are specific and transparent and the gift of matching those desires exactly is its own form of love, even if it is not the dramatic, cinematic form of love that movies promise. We are not a movie. We are two people at a Christmas party, holding plates, smiling for photographs, trying.
After the Callahan festivities, I came home and made miso soup in the dark kitchen, the way I do every Christmas night. The quiet after the noise. The Japanese side emerging after the American side has had its turn. I drank the soup from the chipped bowl and felt the year settling, the way sediment settles in a broth — everything that was stirred up gradually finding its place, resting on the bottom, leaving the surface clear. 2017 is almost over. I am still here. Still cooking. Still writing. Still married, still anxious, still standing in the kitchen at midnight, finding myself in the steam.
The karaage gets all the attention at the Callahan Christmas — it always does — but the spirit behind it is the same spirit behind these Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps: bring something of yourself to the table and trust that the table will make room. This recipe has the same bright, savory energy I reach for when I want to feel like myself inside someone else’s tradition. If you don’t have time for a full karaage fry, these wraps carry that same sense of occasion — festive, shareable, and just a little bit outside the expected holiday spread.
Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium preferred)
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (adjust to taste)
- 1 can (8 oz) water chestnuts, drained and roughly chopped
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 head butter lettuce or iceberg, leaves separated
- Optional toppings: shredded carrots, chopped peanuts, sesame seeds, cilantro
Instructions
- Make the sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, and chili garlic sauce. Set aside.
- Cook the aromatics. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, for about 60 seconds until fragrant.
- Brown the chicken. Add ground chicken to the skillet and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, for 6–8 minutes until cooked through and no pink remains.
- Add sauce and texture. Pour the sauce over the chicken and stir to coat. Add the chopped water chestnuts and half the green onions. Cook for 2 more minutes until everything is heated through.
- Finish with sesame oil. Remove from heat and drizzle with sesame oil. Stir once more to combine.
- Assemble and serve. Spoon the chicken mixture into individual lettuce cups. Top with remaining green onions and any optional toppings. Serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 290 | Protein: 26g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 14g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 620mg