Thai Steak Lettuce Cups
Sadly, my nice easy rotations have come to an end. I’m currently on the Step Down Unit (a level right under critical care), and I’m getting whipped into shape!
Step Down Units (SDUs) are an intermediate level of care between the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and the general medical wards, known as the “floors.” This is a resident only rotation, so you work with the attendings without any interns or med students. Thus, you do everything on your own – pre-rounding, all notes, updating family, consults, paperwork, putting in orders, etc.


Since I was recently an intern, pre-rounding, note writing and putting orders all day long isn’t new to me, but it’s definitely noticeable when you don’t have a team to divide and conquer the workload compounded with the fact that you’re a relatively early on in your 2nd year.
It’s a quite busy as these patients are sicker than those on the wards. In addition, you triage patients so when people anywhere in the hospital/ emergency room are sick, you are called to evaluate them if they need higher level of care. You learn to quickly determine if a patient is “sick” or “not sick” in a matter of minutes.
Compounding all of this is the fact that you have to judiciously decide who stays and who can go since there’s a limited number of SDU / ICU beds as well as account for patient’s nursing needs (each unit has different levels of what nurses are qualified to do and the ratio of patients to each nurse).
I won’t be doing any cooking for the blog for the next month because of my schedule, but I have luckily saved up some recipes to keep posting. These Thai Steak Lettuce Cups were adapted from Blue Apron – my mom gave a small subscription to me as a birthday gift.


The Thai Steak Lettuce Cups recipe was one of my favorites from the boxes I got, so I really wanted to share this with you all.
I do enjoy getting to make different recipes I wouldn’t otherwise try and experiment with new ingredients. That being said, it’s not cheap and the portions are definitely what B called “for ants.”
Although mom was hoping to save me time, these meal boxes actually more work since I’m cooking for one meal (ie no leftovers). Still, it’s a fun thing to try every now and then and a great date night idea… assuming your hungry husband doesn’t eat your potion too.
Thai Steak Lettuce Cups
Ingredients
olive oil
1 cup green beans
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 steaks
1/2 cup sushi rice, cooked
1 head butter lettuce
1 lime, quartered
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 bird’s eye chile, sliced
1 tablespoon sugar
Directions
Cut off the ends of the green beans and cut the green beans in half. In a medium pan, heat olive oil on medium-high. Add the green beans and season with salt and pepper. Cook 4 to 5 minutes, until browned and softened. Add as much of the chile as you’d like, depending on how spicy you’d like the dish to be. Continue to stir fry until the green beans are cooked to desired doneness. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Wipe out the pan.
Pat the steaks dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. In the same pan, heat olive oil on medium-high until hot. Add the seasoned steaks and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side until rare to medium-rare, leaving the middle pink. Leaving the browned bits / liquid (or fond) in the pan, set the meat aside on a cutting board.
While the steaks rest, add the garlic to the pan of reserved fond (if the pan seems dry, add a drizzle of olive oil.) Cook on medium, for 30 seconds. Add the soy sauce sauce, sugar, lime juice wedges, and 2 tablespoons of water. to make the sauce for a min, then remove from heat.
Slice the steak crosswise against the grain. Divide the lettuce leaves between 2 dishes. Fill each leaf with the cooked rice, cooked green beans, and sliced steaks. Top with the sauce. Garnish with the cilantro and lime wedges on the side. Enjoy!
Pace yourself my dear for Stepdown night is dark and full of terrors
Wow these look incredible, and so delicious! Your photography is amazing 🙂 I'll definitely be saving this to try a little bit later on (maybe when my son is a bit older and can chew on the steak!)
Sounds like you are working hard! Best to you! These are beautiful photos, and the dish looks amazing!
I leave in the morning when it's dark and go home when it's dark D:
Thanks! It can be an adults only fancy dinner too hehe
Thanks for the wishes 😀
looks so easy and delicious!
The combination of the two look amazing.
Good luck with your work! I hope you can come back here quick and share more recipes 🙂 I never tried steak lettuce wraps but it sounds healthy and delicious! I am gonna have to try it one day for dinner!
Oh, wow. I'm new here but I'm amazed! Your photos are amazing and you make me want to follow your recipes! Which is a serious thing, I'm always lazy to cook new recipes 😀
These look so delicious! My husband is always all about steak recipe! Love the insight into resident life too!
That looks simple enough and delicious. It's nice to have variety added into our days without having to think about it!
Oh Yummy!! I have never tried a steak and rice lettuce wraps before but now I need to. These look great!!
Yum, these look so light and refreshing! And the steak is so perfectly cooked! Yum!
a perfect combo
thanks 😀 it's delicious together
Thanks! I try to post / prep for posts on my precious day off a week. Luckily I saved up some recipes from earlier to post for while I'm busy running around in the critical care unit
That's my aim – inspire people to cook! Even busy people can cook / learn to cook
Glad you like it – residency is so foreign compared to most jobs (our schedule is anything but typical… I can't even imagine a normal 40 hr work week)
Agreed! Especially when it's delivered to your door
I've had ground beef but never steak in lettuce cups – it's quite delicious and hope you enjoy it
Thanks! It's a great summer dish
You had me at Thai steak. YUM! Quick question: how is sushi rice different from other rices?
These look so simple and delicious!
These look flavorful and delicious! I love the idea of adding rice to the lettuce wraps 🙂
i don't know how you have any time or energy at all to maintain your blog–you're superwoman! beautifully classy dish. 🙂
Sushi rice is a particular Japanese white rice. It's a short grain that is sticky rice to help the rolls stick together. You can try look for "Japanese rice" or "sushi rice"
That's the best part 🙂
I do love lettuce wrapped foods
No sleep. The bags are getting bigger under my eyes O_O But I do cook on my day off and try to cluster recipes
Not a lot of physician (especially resident) bloggers out there for a reason haha
These Thai Steak Lettuce Cups look so flavorful- yum! I hope you're surviving and have an easier rotation coming up.
This looks so amazing! *-* I actually just finished the last bite of my super-late dinner but now I'm hungry again, haha.
surviving away Sonali 🙂
My plan succeeded then haha