When I'm craving the Chang's

This past weekend we were hungry for some lettuce wraps we've had at P.F. Chang's on occasion. OK, so we have them every time we go there... nobody's keeping track, right? But our desire was not strong enough to take the hour trip to TriCities. So I went the rip-off recipe route. I've made these before, and with fairly good success. They aren't quite the Chang's, but they are close... until I get a chance to sneak into the kitchen at the restaurant sometime and watch every little ingredient that gets tossed in the wok, this will have to do. And it did quite nicely.


The rip-off of P.F. Chang's vegetarian lettuce wraps
(Adapted from recipezaar.com)

Cooking sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Marinade
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons dry sherry
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese chili sauce
2 teaspoons water

1 cup baked tofu, diced
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 green onions, minced
1/4 large red onion, minced
4 ounces bamboo shoots, diced
4 ounces water chestnuts, diced
1 head iceberg lettuce

You can buy baked tofu or you can make your own. I make my own--easy and cheaper and better flavor. Cut a loaf of tofu into 1 inch slices and place in a baking pan just slightly larger than the tofu. Pour a mixture of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar over the tofu until you have just covered the tofu. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half. Drain off the liquid and let cool, then cut as needed (diced, for this recipe; 1/2 inch cubes for stirfry, etc.).

Mix the cooking sauce in a bowl and set aside.

In medium bowl, combine sherry, soy sauce, chili sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, and water. Mix well and stir in tofu. Allow to marinate for 15 minutes.

Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mixed sesame oil and stir fry tofu for 2-3 minutes.

Add the ginger, garlic and onion; stir-fry for about a minute. Add bamboo shoots and water chestnuts; stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Add cooking sauce and cook until thickened (about 2 minutes). Cool slightly and place into serving bowl.

Rinse and dry lettuce, pull apart leaves into whole pieces to wrap around the filling.


A little veggie stirfry to go with the lettuce wraps--broccoli, carrots, colorful peppers, tofu and onions, with a little extra of the cooking sauce (see above) to pull it all together.


With a little brown rice, a complete meal!