Thai Chicken Wraps

I've never had Thai food before. And now that I think about it, it's surprising that I would have saved this recipe considering that until recently, I didn't really like cucumber, still not a huge peanut butter person and all these flavors were some what foreign.

But tastes and recipe reading has evolved, so I tried this recipe out one day. No idea where it came from, but here it is:

Thai Chicken Wrap with Spicy Peanut Sauce

3 - 6 oz. chicken breasts
1 Tb. soy sauce
1 Tb. vegetable oil
1 Tb. grill seasoning

Salad:
1/2 seedless cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced on an angle
2 cups fresh bean sprouts
1 cup shredded carrots
3 scallions, sliced on an angle
12 basil leaves, chopped or torn
3 Tb. chopped mint leaves (4 sprigs)
1 Tb. sesame seeds
2 tsp. sugar
2 Tb. rice wine vinegar or white vinegar
salt

Spicy Peanut Sauce:
1/4 cup room temperature chunky peanut butter
2 Tb. soy sauce
1 Tb. rice wine vinegar or white vinegar
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 Tb. vegetable oil

12" flour tortilla wraps

Heat a grill pan over high heat. Toss chicken with soy and oil and grill 6 minutes on each side.

Combine cucumber, sprouts, carrots, scallions, basil, mint and sesame with a generous sprinkle of sugar and vinegar. Season salad with salt to taste.

Whisk peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar and cayenne together. Stream in vegetable oil.

Slice cooked chicken on an angle. Toss with veggies and herbs.

Heat tortillas. Pile chicken and veggies in wraps and drizzle liberally with spicy peanut sauce before wrapping and rolling.

Love all the colors in this wrap.

So I tried the salad before putting it in the wrap and I really liked it. I tried the peanut sauce and it was ok, but I went with it. I was pretty conservative with the peanut sauce. The recipe says to add it liberally. Try the sauce after you make it. And if you like it, go ahead and go crazy. I almost tossed the chicken, salad and peanut sauce together and am so glad I didn't.

The peanut sauce was just a little too peanut buttery for me. I didn't use the chunky stuff either. I stuck with the smooth kind. Granted, if I was going to make a PB&J, I like the chunky stuff. Anyway, not being a big peanut butter fan, I wasn't too wild about the sauce. And it wasn't that spicy. Maybe I needed to add more cayenne. But the peanut butter flavor was just too overpowering for me to enjoy.

I did like the textures of this wrap. There was the chicken and the nice crunch of the carrots and cucumber. The salad added a nice refreshing aspect to the wrap. The salad called for three tablespoons of chopped mint. I only used about 1 tablespoon. While it wasn't a standout flavor, there did become a hint of mint at the end of the bite. And the mixture of mint with basil and the other vegetables with the dressing, just didn't do it for me. So, go easy on the mint would be my suggestion. It definitely does add an interesting flavor mix in the salad.

Not a fan of this wrap. So much so, that I didn't even finish one half of the wrap. Luckily the sweet potato fries were able to tie me over. Wes was a little gentler on the reviews, but I don't think he was a fan either.

If you like Thai food, you might enjoy this wrap. Let me know if you do try it and like it. Then tell me where I went wrong!