The meat-free version of Chinesesan choy bow.
You never knew vegetarian lettuce wraps could be so delicious!
Crumbled tofu makes the filling meaty while vegetables add lovely texture, smothered in a glossy, savoury sauce.
Crumbling firm tofu into “mince”
Healthy food was never so delicious.
I hate that I used the word awesome for a recipe name (in caps! )
but I couldnt think of another way to capture your attention for these lettuce wraps.
A vegetarian one, no less, made with lots of vegetable and tofu.
So if youre reading this, perhaps the somewhat childish name Ive bestowed upon these lettuce wraps worked!
Because they are Awesome with a capital A.
Crumbling firm tofu into “mince”
Not just ok, not just good.
That doesnt make the cut to be shared on my website.
(I need a new word.
Intsensely flavoured savoury sauce
My high school English teacher would be horrified if she read this post).
Try telling me this doesnt look delicious!
Ready to see how to make these vegetarian lettuce wraps??
It needs to be firm enough so you might crumble it like mince / ground meat.
Tub label will give you clues it will be labelled as such.
Also, give it a squeeze.
It should feel like soft rubber, rather than a very fragile jelly (silken tofu).
Vegetables Green beans, carrot and mushrooms are the mix Im using today.
Love the texture the green beans and carrots give to the filling, and the savouriness the mushrooms bring.
Having said that, feel free to use what youve got!
Any saute-able vegetables will work fine.
Garlic and onion Aromatics.
Dont skip these they become more important in vegetarian dishes!
Its glossy and savoury, and each ingredient contributes to the flavour so c’mon dont skip any.
This sauce, it can make anything taste amazing even tofu!
(There, I said it, go ahead and call me immature ).
Cornflour / cornstarch This makes the sauce shiny and thickens it so it coats the filling ingredients beautifully.
Oyster sauce A whole lot of flavour, jammed into one bottle!
As the name suggests, the sauce is made with oysters not that you would ever pick it.
It just tastes savoury and sweet.
Alternatives Vegetarian options available these days, even at large grocery stores in Australia.
Prevent screen from sleeping
Light soy sauceprovides salt but doesnt stain things a brown colour and has a mild soy flavour.
Can be substituted with all purpose soy sauce but not dark soy sauce (too intense).
More on different soy sauceshere.
Chinese cooking wine(Shaoxing wine) is an essential ingredient for making truly restaurant standard Chinese dishes.
It adds depth of flavour and complexity into sauces.
More info on Chinese cooking winehere.
Sesame oil (toasted) For lovely sesame flavour in the dish.
Use toasted (brown oil) not un-toasted (yellow oil) as it has stronger sesame flavour.
For fellow Aussies, toasted is the standard sesame oil sold in grocery stores.
Un-toasted is harder to find (generally in health food stores).
The peanuts and sriracha or other chilli paste/sauce is highly, highly recommended for a great lettuce wrap!
Lettuce leaves Chinese san choy bow lettuce wraps served at restaurants here in Australia use iceberg lettuce.
At fancy places, they cut into neat rounds!
Crispy (cos / romaine lettuce) or soft, pliable leaves (like butter lettuce).
Srirachaor other chilli sauce Highly recommended.
It just works so well to add a hit of spiciness to the freshness of the vegetable filling!
Peanuts For an authentic san choy bow experience, chopped peanuts is also highly recommended!
Green onion Sprinkle of fresh.
Not as highly recommended, but it can be skipped if you dont have it.
Because its easier to dissolve cornflour in less liquid than too much liquid.
Crumble tofu Drain tofu.
Cut into 5mm/0.2 slices then use your fingers to crumble into a mince.
It will crumble with little effort.
No need to press the tofu Theres no need to press water out of the tofu using weights.
The water contained in the tofu prevents it from being too dry.
Add green beans and mushrooms then cook for 2 minutes.
The green beans should still be firm.
The texture the green beans add to the filling is really nice.
Add tofuand just toss through.
Sauce it!Pour in the sauce then let it come to a simmer.
As it heats up, the cornflour in the sauce will make it thicken.
Stir for 1 minute or until it becomes thick and glossy so it coats the mixture nicely.
See the photo in step 6 for what the filling looks like once the sauce thickens.
Look at all thatflavouron the tofu and vegetables!
Serving Transfer the filling into a bowl.
Put it out on the table with the lettuce leaves, green onion, peanuts and bottle of sriracha.
Then let everyone make their own wraps!
DIY lettuce wraps Spoon filling into lettuce leaf.
Toppings Drizzle with sriracha, sprinkle with peanuts and green onion.
I have to confess, this recipe took me by surprise.
I made it during one of those patches when I was trying to be healthier.
(But thenmango pancakesandchili dogshappened which derailed my good intentions, followed bypizza breadandcarbonarawhich didnt help.)
How very, very wrong I was.
Its not just good.
As in I WANT to have it for dinner tonight.
The fact that its just 245 calories for a generous dinner-size serving is a bonus.
And with that, Im done in my efforts to convince you to try this.
?AwesomeVegetarian Lettuce Wraps.
Full points for creative writing!
