Recipe: Vegan San Choy Bow

There's just something so satisfying about these Vegan Tofu Lettuce Cups - aka San Choy Bow. They are wonderfully tasty, filling and healthy. I love the crispy bite of the lettuce combined with the tofu mixture inside it. It's heaven on earth!

I've been a bit obsessed with vietnamese vegan dishes lately - I made some Bahn Mi Rolls last week, which were amazing, and I've got a Bahn Mi Salad in my mind at the moment too... I just love the flavours and how they go together, and it's making me really want to go to Vietnam again!

These San Choy Bow are a little bit spicy, but you can tone it down a bit by omitting or reducing the chilli flakes. Personally I love the zing it gives to this dish!

Our lettuce cups were a bit bigger - you could easily eat one for lunch (we did!), or you could make them smaller by using a smaller lettuce leaf (you could try it with baby cos instead), and have them as an appetizer. They are delicious either way!

I love the water chestnuts in this - they are one of my favourite ingredients, and I don't use them as often as I'd like to (anyone got any great water chestnut recipe ideas?!). I just love the crunch factor, and they really go well in this recipe.

Isn't mint one of the best herbs? I used standard mint in this recipe, but if you want you could use Vietnamese mint to give it a slightly different flavour. There are so many mints out there. One of my favourites is Japanese mint which has a very intense minty smell - the nose clearing kind! Spearmint is also so great. I also just found out that there is a banana mint!

If you're making these as an entrée, you could pair it with a main of Vegan Beef Bean and Noodle Soup and then an Apple Tarte Tatin for dessert. Now we're talking!

Ingredients:

1/4 Red Onion (diced finely)
1 Tbsp Ginger (finely chopped)
150g Firm Tofu (crumbled)
1 Carrot (julienned)
1 Spring Onion (chopped)
4 Baby Corns (chopped)
1/4 cup Water Chestnuts (roughly chopped)
1 Tbsp Peanut Oil
1 tsp Seseme Oil
1 tsp Tamari
1/2 tsp Chilli Flakes
1 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp Kecap Manis
1/4 cup Bean Shoots
3 cups Iceberg Lettuce

Step 1:

Heat the peanut oil in a non stick frying pan. Fry the red onion and ginger for a few minutes.

Step 2:

Add the tofu, carrot, spring onion, baby corns and water chestnuts.

Step 3:

Add the sesame oil, tamari, chilli flakes, lemon juice and kecap manis (sweet soy sauce). Mix through well and cook for around 5 minutes.

Step 4:

Add the mint and toss through for a minute or so. Turn off the heat.

Step 5:

Get your lettuce cups ready in bowls or on a plate (use the inner, crispier leaves of the iceberg lettuce). Spoon the tofu mixture evenly into the lettuce cups.

Step 6:

Top with bean sprouts. Add some more mint or chilli to taste and drizzle with kecap manis if desired.

This article originally appeared on Instructables.

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