Meatless Monday: Peanut-Sauced-Veggie Lettuce Wraps

Today was marked by a severe hangover. A mac 'n' cheese hangover.


One of my dearest friends requested that I cook "mac 'n' cheese two ways" for her boyfriend's birthday, and, as that meant I myself would be invited to enjoy the feast, I was only too happy to oblige. But after a couple hours of sauce-tasting and cheese-nibbling, followed by the meal itself (followed by - brace yourself - cheesecake), I was feeling...less than svelte.


Enter Meatless Monday. I was thrilled that after I tallied up the ingredients for this dish, it turned out to be vegan! I figure that after the dairy damage I did last night, a purely plant-based meal was called for. Nonetheless, what a voluptuous tasting meal it was!


The peanut sauce and tofu give it a lush richness, while the crispness of the lettuce and serving the rice cold make it totally summer-worthy. This would be dynamite with chicken instead of tofu, and if you wanted to skip the zillion-ingredient peanut sauce, a nice bottled Asian stir-fry sauce would be a dandy switch as well.


My continued apologies, dear readers, for my sporadic posts! I have vowed to cook up a storm from now till I head to Mexico in two weeks - it's simply the only way I won't sink my surfboard! To your health!

INGREDIENTS

Peanut Sauce:

2 T. sesame oil
several big spoonfuls natural peanut butter
big squeeze of honey
squeeze of Sriracha
a few vigorous shakes tamari or soy sauce
juice of one lime
several vigorous dashes rice wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
cilantro, chopped

Veggies/Filling:

1 T. olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
shelled edamame
broccolini, chopped
2 carrots, sliced thinly on the bias
1/3 block tofu, in small chunks

Lettuce leaves from one head of iceberg
cooked white or brown rice, cold or warm

STEP 1:

Make the sauce: whisk together all ingredients and set aside.

STEP 2:

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Squeeze excess moisture out of the tofu with paper towels, and cook the chunks in a dry pan until golden brown on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside.

STEP 3:

Heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and carrots to pan. Cook until onions get lightly brown at the edges. Add the broccolini, tofu pieces, and peanut sauce.

STEP 4:

Serve the rice and lettuce leaves alongside the veggie mixture. Place a little rice and veggies in each lettuce leaf, roll up like a burrito, and enjoy!