Because I don’t particularly like people but I also don’t want them to be unemployed, I use my local grocery store’s curbside pickup option, where I order my groceries online and someone else shops for them. I show up, they load them in my car, and I leave. I love this service, because it cuts down on my impulse buying like whoa. But every now and then it backfires a little, like when they substituted a bag of tiny cooked shrimp for the bag of raw normal-sized shrimp I requested, because they were out of the one I wanted. I had no idea what to do with these shrimp, until it occurred to me that they were the perfect size to fit into a lettuce wrap.
Now obviously, you don’t need a bag of tiny shrimp for this. If you want, you can use regular-sized cooked shrimp, just chopped. The tiny shrimp have a softer texture than the larger ones, which I found to work better with this recipe for some reason. But really, you can’t go wrong either way.
This recipe is easier than it seems from the description, I promise. It involves almost no actual cooking. The prep is just chopping and slicing and a little bit of whisking. There are several ingredients that need to be chopped, but it honestly takes about 30 minutes total to get it on the table. It also requires a couple of minor specialty ingredients, like fish sauce and chili garlic sauce. I highly recommend both of these brands. The Red Boat brand of fish sauce is one of the cleanest you can buy, sourced with wild caught fish and with only two ingredients. The chili garlic sauce is so much better than any other brand I’ve bought. You can put it on or in almost anything and it gives it a bit of a spicy kick. I like mixing a little bit with some mayo, which would be really good on this recipe if you need a little more fat for your macros.
The first thing you’ll want to do when you make this is rinse your lettuce and herbs, because you’ll want them to dry while you’re chopping everything else. So for 8 ounces of shrimp, you’ll want 8 pieces of green leaf lettuce, plus about 1/3 cup each of basil, mint, and cilantro. Wash all that off and then place it between paper towels to drain while you finish everything else. For the rest of the accompaniments, you’ll need a bag of Angel Hair Miracle Noodles 1/4 cup of dry-roasted peanuts, 3 medium-sized radishes, 2 limes, and 1 jalapeño pepper.
For the Miracle Noodles, rinse them thoroughly in cold water, then fry them in a non-stick skillet until the water evaporates, then remove them from the heat, squeeze half of one of your limes over them (I like to use one of these citrus squeezers to maximize juice output), toss them around a bit, then put them in a small bowl and stick them in the fridge. You may want to use some kitchen shears and cut them a few times to make them shorter and easier to serve.
Since I have the colander out, I also take this time to prepare the shrimp. Rinse and drain them in the colander, then put them in a bowl and toss them with a couple of pinches of salt and some pepper. Stick them back in the fridge with the noodles.
Rinse your radishes and scrub off any visible dirt, then cut the ends off of them. Cut them lengthwise, then slice them as thinly as you can into half-moon shapes. Put them in a bowl. Do the exact same thing to the jalapeño, only make sure you remove the seeds before you begin slicing it. Chop the peanuts coarsely. Put it in yet another bowl. You’ll be using all your ramekins for this recipe if you want to be cute about it.
The cutting board, right before I put them into bowls.
Next, work on the sauce. Squeeze a lime into a bowl. You’ll want about 2 tablespoons of juice. If you don’t get that, you still have the other half a lime that you had from the noodles, so feel free to use that. If not, you can cut the leftover half lime into wedges and put it on the side. To the lime juice, add 4 tablespoons of the aforementioned fish sauce, one tablespoon of monkfruit sweetener, and 2 teaspoons of chili garlic sauce. I used the monkfruit sweetener here because it has less of the cooling effect than just the straight erithrytol does, but I’m sure Swerve would work just as well. Whisk that together and set it aside.
Now you’re finally ready to chop your herbs. Pat them with the paper towels to sop up any excess moisture, then pile them together on the cutting board and mince them fairly finely. Put them in a ramekin. Pat your lettuce leaves dry and put them on plates. This serves 2 for dinner, 4 for an appetizer. Put the plates on the table, the bowls and ramekins in the middle, and let everyone put their wraps together the way they want to. I put the noodles in, then the shrimp, then some sauce, and then pile on the radishes, veggies, herbs, and peanuts. But as always, your mileage may vary.
All of the accoutrements, ready to be served.
Low Carb Vietnamese Shrimp Lettuce Wraps
A fresh and spicy low-carb dinner or appetizer, perfect for a hot day!
Rinse the lettuce and herbs and set aside to dry between paper towels.
Rinse the Miracle Noodles in cold water and drain in a colander. Set the colander aside. Put the noodles in a non-stick skillet over medium heat and cook, tossing occasionally, until the water has evaporated. Remove them from the heat and toss them with the juice of half a lime. Set the other half of the lime aside on a cutting board. Cut the noodles several times with kitchen shears if they're too long and tangled. Put them in a bowl and put the bowl in the refrigerator.
Using the same colander, rinse and drain the shrimp. Chop the shrimp into bite-sized pieces if you're using larger shrimp. Put them into a bowl, sprinkle them with 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of salt and some pepper, then put the bowl into the refrigerator.
Rinse the radishes and scrub off any visible dirt. Cut the ends off, then slice them lengthwise. Slice them crosswise as thinly as you can to create half-moon shaped slices. Repeat the same technique with the jalapeño, making sure to remove the seeds before making the crosswise slices. Put the radishes and jalapeño into separate ramekins and set aside.
Coarsely chop the peanuts and put them into another ramekin.
To make the sauce, juice the lime into a small bowl. You should have about two tablespoons. If you're a bit short, use the half of a lime that you saved from the noodles. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until the sweetener is dissolved.
Remove the herbs from the paper towels and pat dry if necessary. Chop them finely, then place them into another ramekin.
Pat the lettuce dry and put the leaves on plates. Use 2 leaves per plate for an appetizer serving, or 4 leaves per plate for a dinner serving. Remove the shrimp and noodles from the refrigerator and place them on the table along with all of the other accompaniments.
Serve all ingredients family-style, allowing each diner to choose what they want in their wrap.
Macros per dinner serving: 204 calories, 4 grams net carbs, 25 grams protein, 8 grams fat.
Keyword high protein, keto, lettuce, low carb, low-calorie, shrimp, Vietnamese
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