Meatless Monday: Asian Tofu Lettuce Wraps

Ever since discovering the Asian Lettuce Cups made with ground turkey on Kalyn’s Kitchen for my Phase One Bonanza, this has become one of my favorite recipes. Seriously, I’ve probably had this 6 times in the last month, and will probably continue to do so  forever, at least once a week or so. It’s that good.

But I do try to avoid meat as much as I can (and have been contemplating returning to being a full-time vegetarian). I had to eliminate soy from my diet due to some sensitivities in my breastfeeding daughter (along with gluten, eggs  and peanuts), so my protein substitute choices were limited. We recently got re-tested and found that she is fine with soy now! So I’ve been making up for lost time, and thought this was one recipe that might also be equally tasty in vegan form.  I tried it out last night – success! And perfect for Meatless Monday.

One hint right up front: do NOT skip the freezing completely —> defrosting and squeezing-out steps re: the tofu. If you just crumble up the tofu without going through these steps, the texture is going to be like scrambled egg. This works fine for some recipes, but definitely not this one! The freezing process causes the moisture to separate completely from the soybean curd, and when you wring it out you will notice that the texture has completely changed. It’s very spongy and porous and crumbles up perfectly, just like ground beef or ground turkey.

ASIAN TOFU LETTUCE WRAPS

14 ounces extra-firm tofu, frozen completely then defrosted
1 tablespoon peanut  oil
1/2 medium red onion, finely diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
4 tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce)
1 teaspoon chile garlic sauce, such as Sriracha
3 tablespoons peanut butter
about 3/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup cashews (or peanuts), chopped
1 large head butter lettuce

Place defrosted tofu in a clean dishtowel and wring all moisture out. Don’t worry about breaking it up – in fact, you want to crumble it up, so it’s perfect to start doing so by squeezing away while it’s still wrapped in the cloth.  Set aside. Heat the oil in a large skillet, add onions and saute for a few minutes, then add ginger and garlic and cook about two more minutes.

Add tofu and stir to combine well. Add tamari and sriracha. Continue to stir and break up any chunks of tofu left uncrumbled. I like to use this guy for the job:

Add peanut butter. When tofu is well-coated in the tamari (you can use a bit extra if needed) and peanut butter, turn off heat, add the cilantro and about half the cashews, toss well. Move mixture to a serving dish, with washed lettuce leaves on another dish and remaining cashews in a little cup for everyone to serve themselves.

I’d also keep the sriracha on the table for spiceaholics to amp theirs up as desired. Spoon a little of the tofu mixture into the center of a leaf, top with cashews and/or sriracha, roll up  and enjoy! This is great as an appetizer OR as an entree, depending on what accompanies it.

Other bloggers on this tasty treat:

Serious Eats
Rasa Malaysia
Yum Sugar
Gluten-Free Goddess
Chaos in the Kitchen

– posted by Anne