Build-Your-Own Thai Lettuce Wraps
This is a crunchy, healthy, zingy recipe with a lot of chopping and a little cooking. Enlist help if possible and it will be ready in no time.
This is a really fun (uh, really messy) dish to eat – each person assembles their own wrap and tries their best not to drop the contents all over the place. I’m great at assembling, less good about ruining my shirt with the dipping sauce. It’s worth it anyway.
Serves: 4
Time: 50 minutes
Wraps
canola or peanut oil
16 oz tofu, cut into ¼ inch strips
1 head lettuce (bib, red curly leaf, or a wide-leafed romaine)
½ small head of red cabbage, chopped
4 carrots, grated (I used a cheese grater)
1 bunch basil
1 bunch mintSauce
canola, peanut or sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbl fresh ginger, minced
1 jalapeno, minced (deseed if you’d like less hot)*
1/3 cup peanuts, chopped
1/3 6 oz can tomato paste (about 3 Tbl)**
3 Tbl creamy peanut butter
3 Tbl soy sauce
1 Tbl rice vinegar
juice of 1 lime
2 Tbl honey
Sauce
Sauté the garlic, ginger, and jalapeno in a small saucepan over medium heat for a minute in the oil. Add the peanuts and sauté another minute.
Add the rest of the ingredients and stir over low heat to combine. Remove from heat and put into a serving bowl.
Wraps
Heat a small layer of oil in a skillet and keep the heat at medium. Stir fry the tofu in a single layer – you may have to do batches – until crispy. Drain on paper towels. If desired, you can lightly salt the crispy tofu.
Separate the leaves of the lettuce, wash and dry thoroughly. These will the “wraps” so put aside on a serving plate.
Chop the cabbage, grate the carrots, and take the basil and mint off of their stems. Arrange the herbs, vegetables, and tofu into individual piles on a serving platter.
To assemble: Each diner takes a piece of lettuce and fills it with a little of each of the ingredient, and tops with a spoonful of the sauce. Then the lettuce gets rolled/folded up and everyone makes a mess trying to get it in their mouths.
*Always use gloves when handling hot pepper like jalapeños. I put plastic sandwich baggies over my hands. Trust me, you don’t want to end up burning your finger, eyes, or anything else you touch with jalapeno-hands.
**I previously used ketchup in my Thai-style sauces but when The Sistaster found out she got a little grossed out, like ketsup is only for burgers and fries or something. My old roommate, who was from Singapore, used to use ketchup in her sauces, so I figure if it’s OK for her, it’s OK for me– you know ’cause she’s from Sinagpore. But this time I tried tomato paste and vinegar (which, after all, is pretty much all ketchup is) and that worked just fine AND avoids the ketchup stigma.
