Saturday, October 27, 2012

Lettuce Wraps with Tofu in Black-Bean Sauce

Everyone raves about the Tofu Lettuce Wraps at PF Chang's; and while I've never been to PF Chang's, they do sound good - I love filling crisp, cool lettuce leaves with warm salty and spicy mixtures.
So, I've created my own version, using a super-easy-to-cook "oven roasting" method for the tofu that I'll be using in tomorrow's recipe as well.

 Lettuce Wraps with Tofu in Black-Bean Sauce

2 12-14 oz. packages water-packed firm tofu
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 - 3 Tbsp Chinese Fermented Black Bean Sauce (more or less to taste; it's salty, but some brands are MUCH saltier than others)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
3 Tbsp. vegetable/corn/olive oil
2 Tbsp. minced fresh cilantro

 Butter lettuce or Romaine Lettuce leaves

Heat oven to 400°.
Pat tofu dry, crumble into bowl and add soy sauce and black bean sauce.
Mix sauce evenly (I use my hands) into tofu until well blended and tofu is crumbled uniformly but not mashed.
Add more black-bean sauce to taste - The flavors will concentrate somewhat when baked. Stir in onion.

Pour oil into 9X12 glass baking pan.
Add tofu, toss with oil and spread out evenly.
Bake for 30 - 45 minutes until browned and firm (depending on how moist the tofu is), stirring every 10 - 12 min. to make sure it doesn't stick.

This is a GREAT method for cooking tofu when you can't watch it over the stove every second and you want it "burger"-like and crumbly.
When tofu is firmed, browned and dried out (not crispy!) to your liking, remove from oven, stir in cilantro and serve with lettuce "cups".

1 comments:

Matt said...

burger-like tofu and black bean sounsd darn good to me! YUM!