Tempeh lettuce wraps with hoisin and water chestnuts
40 min · 21 g protein · 298 cals / serving
The takeout lettuce wrap, with crumbled tempeh in place of chicken: browned until nutty and crisp with two kinds of mushroom, garlic and ginger, glazed in a sticky hoisin-soy sauce and spooned into cold, crunchy lettuce cups with water chestnuts, carrot, cucumber and a scatter of peanuts.
Ingredients
- 1 block (8 oz) tempeh, crumbled
- 1 1/2 tsp canola oil
- 9 oz shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, finely chopped
- 14 oz crimini mushroom, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-inch (3 cm) piece ginger, grated
- 1 can (8 oz), drained water chestnuts, chopped
- 6 scallions green onions, sliced, whites and greens apart
Sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp sriracha hot sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup water
To serve
- 3 heads butterhead lettuce, leaves separated
- 2 medium carrots, shredded
- 1 large cucumber, in matchsticks
- 1 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped
Steps
- Put the crumbled tempeh in a saucepan, cover with water and simmer for 10 minutes, then drain well. This softens its slightly bitter edge and helps it soak up the sauce.
- Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the tempeh and both mushrooms and cook, stirring only every minute or so, for 8–10 minutes, until the mushroom liquid has cooked off and the tempeh is browned and crisp in places.
- Add the garlic, ginger, water chestnuts and scallion whites and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
- Whisk all the sauce ingredients together, pour them into the pan and toss for about a minute, until the sauce thickens and glazes everything. Take off the heat and stir in most of the scallion greens.
- Spoon the filling into lettuce cups at the table and top with carrot, cucumber, peanuts and the last of the scallions.
Good to know
Do I have to simmer the tempeh first?
It is worth the 10 minutes: steamed or simmered tempeh tastes milder and nuttier and takes on the sauce instead of fighting it. If you love tempeh's earthy flavour as it is, skip it.
Which lettuce?
Butter (Bibb) lettuce makes soft, cup-shaped leaves; iceberg gives the cold crunch of the restaurant version. Both work.
Is it vegan?
Yes, as written. Check the hoisin label if you are strict: nearly all are plant-based.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 65
- Protein
- (28%)
- 4 g
- Fat
- (35%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (37%)
- 7 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 105 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1191 kcal goes into the pot and 2119 g of ingredients comes out as about 1830 g of food: 65 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.