At Matt's Rancho Martinez in Dallas, they have an appetizer called fried avocados. The deep-fried wedges are served with romaine lettuce "taco shells," cilantro, slivers of carrots and jicama, and other fixin's. "I got the idea from Vietnamese restaurants," said Marco Martinez, son of the late Matt Martinez Jr. "The lettuce rolls are great for people on the Atkins diet, too; they put their fajitas on them. We use soy sauce on the fajitas—we borrow lots of things from Asian cooking." Making Viet-Mex salad rolls is sort of like making lettuce tacos. Put all the ingredients out on the table and let everybody "roll their own."

Ingredients

　　2 pounds grilled fajita meat of your choice, sliced in thin strips

　　1 cup cilantro sprigs

　　1 large tomato, chopped

　　1 avocado, peeled and sliced

　　4 green onions, chopped

　　1/2 cup thin-sliced raw carrot strips

　　1/2 cup thin-sliced jicama strips

　　1/4 cup dry-roasted peanuts, chopped

　　2 limes, cut into wedges

　　1 head of romaine lettuce, washed and dried, for wrappers

　　1 cup salsa of your choice

　　Put hot sliced beef on a platter surrounded by the cilantro, tomato, avocado, green onions, carrots, jicama, peanuts, and limes. Use lettuce leaves to roll up steak slices with the other ingredients. Drizzle with lime juice just before serving.

Nutrition Per Serving

　　140.0 calories from fat

　　15.0g total fat

　　3.5g saturated fat

　　110.0mg cholesterol

　　3060.0mg sodium

　　16.0g total carbs

　　4.0g dietary fiber

　　4.0g sugars

　　46.0g protein

　　#### Nutritional analysis provided by [TasteBook

　　using the USDA Nutrition Database](http://www.tastebook.com)

　　The Tex-Mex Grill and Backyard Barbacoa Cookbook by Robb Walsh. Copyright © 2010. Published by Broadway. All Rights Reserved.Robb Walsh, "the Indiana Jones of food writers" (Liane Hanson, NPR), is the occasional commentator for NPR's Weekend Edition, the former food columnist for Natural History magazine, and former editor in chief of Chile Pepper magazine. He is the author of Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook and The Tex Mex Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos, and the co-author of several other cooking and travel books. He lives in Houston, Texas.