Lettuce Wraps with Hoisin-Peanut Sauce

This recipe comes from the latest issue of Cooking Light. I changed it slightly by using chicken (instead of tofu), brown rice (instead of sticky white rice) and adding chopped peanuts to the filling (HELLO! YUM!). These wraps were a bit time consuming due to quite a few steps. But, the taste was worth the effort! Look out, P.F. Chang's!

Sauce:
1 tsp canola oil
1 Tbl shallot, minced
1/3 c. water
2 Tbl creamy peanut butter
4 tsp hoisin sauce
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
1 Tbl fresh lime juice

Filling:
1 Tbl dark sesame oil
6 thinly sliced green onions, divided
1 large chicken breast, cooked and finely chopped
1/2 c. peanuts, chopped
1/2 c. plus 2 Tbl chopped fresh cilantro, divided
3 Tbl soy sauce
1 tsp freshly grated ginger (or 1/2 tsp dried ground ginger)
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Sriracha (hot chile sauce)
1/2 c. peanuts, chopped
1/3 of a cucumber, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
2 c. brown rice, cooked
8 - 10 Bibb lettuce leaves, rinsed and patted dry

To prepare sauce, heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add canola oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add shallot, and saute for 2 minutes. Add 1/3 c. water, peanut butter, hoisin sauce and crushed red pepper. Stir with a whisk. Bring to boil; cook 1 minute only. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice. Set aside.

To prepare filling, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sesame oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add 1/3 green onions; saute 1 minute. Add chopped, cooked chicken and peanuts; cook for another minute. Add 2 Tbl cilantro, soy sauce, ginger, sugar and Sriracha; saute 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in cucumbers, carrots and remaining green onions.

Spoon approx. 1/4 c. rice into each lettuce leaf. Top with about 1/2 c. chicken mixture; sprinkle with 1 Tbl cilantro. Serve with sauce.