If there's one thing I love about vegan cooking, it's the creativity.
It's amazing how, when we look a little more carefully at vegetables, legumes, and greens, they offer us countless possibilities. Plant-based cooking means creating all the time and that's just fascinating for me!
In today's post, I wanted to show how a simple lettuce leaf can be transformed into completely different dishes, even though they have the same purpose. The base for these two wraps is lettuce, rice, and cooked lentils and with these three ingredients, we will travel in the flavors of Korea and Mexico!
We only need this three ingredients to make delicious wraps
I've been thinking about making a 2 in 1 version here at Hive, featuring different recipes from a single ingredient. What do you think about this idea? Put it in the comments, please!
Well, then, let's get to the recipes!
Lettuce-Wrapped Bulgogi Rice
I simply love Korean cuisine. So, I decided to take a traditional dish, the lettuce-wrapped bulgogi rice dosiak and adapt it to plant-based cuisine. Traditionally, this dish is made with meat, but here, we'll use lentils as a base, which, besides being protein, is super nutritious!
To make this amazing Korean-inspired wrap, you'll need
Ingredients (for 4 wraps)
For the wrap
1 large leaf lettuce
8 rice leaves (optional)
For the filling
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup cooked lentils
For the sauce
½ cup Korean fermented soybean paste (doenjang) / you can also use missô if you can't find it
1 teaspoon Korean hot pepper paste (gochujang) / you can use sriracha or make a paste by pounding in a pestle ½ allspice, 1 clove garlic, hot paprika, coriander seed, fennel seed, and black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1 scallion, chopped
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
Directions
Start by cooking the rice and lentils. Cook with just a little salt and, if you like, add a bay leaf (I always recommend it!).
While the rice and lentils are cooking, it's time to make the sauce. Combine in a bowl the miso, chili paste, 1 minced garlic, chopped spring onion, sugar, and sesame oil.
In a separate pan, you can toast the sesame seeds, they will serve as the finishing touch to this wrap.
Mix all the ingredients of the sauce together. Remove the cooked lentils from the heat and mix them with the sauce.
Now it's time to assemble. It's important that both the rice and the lentils are not too hot, because this will cause the lettuce to wilt and lose its crunchiness. Before you assemble your wrap, therefore, it is essential to wait until it cools down a bit.
There are two ways to assemble this wrap. The traditional way, which ends up making a bit of a mess when it's time to eat, and the improved version, which takes a sheet of rice as a base to help roll up the wrap.
Using rice paper as the base, you can eat your bulgogi without too much mess
I don't know if Koreans will like these adaptations very much, but it's important not to stick to tradition and focus more on the flavors!!!
The traditional way, take a large sheet of rice that is big enough to assemble the wrap. Place 4 tablespoons of rice on it, 3 tablespoons of lentils with the sauce, and sprinkle with toasted sesame. Roll carefully and you're done! Lettuce-wrapped bulgogi ready for you to enjoy!
The second option is to use two rice leaves to wrap your bulgogi. Soak the leaves in a little water (too much water will make them too soft!) and place them on a wooden board. Spread the lettuce leaves, then the rice, then the lentils, and the toasted sesame.
Now, its time to wrap this cutie
There, now just roll it up like a spring roll and it's ready! This way it's easier to eat without the filling escaping!
Wrapped-lettuce burrito
From Korea we headed to Mexico to make this delicious burrito. I love the idea of using lettuce instead of tortilla, besides being healthier, I just love the crunchiness of it!
To make this burrito, the steps are very similar to the bulgogi. What changes, of course, are the seasonings and a few more steps in the recipe!
Ingredients (for 4 burritos)
For the wrap
1 large leaf lettuce
For the filling
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup cooked lentils
1 chopped garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons of barbecue sauce
For the sauce
½ avocado
1 squeezed lemon
½ onion, chopped
4 chopped pear tomatoes or half a chopped tomato
¼ of a chopped finger of moça pepper
chopped coriander to taste
salt to taste
Directions
As in the bulgogi, start by cooking the rice and the lentils. In the case of the burrito, we're going to change the recipe a bit because after it's cooked, we're also going to saute the lentils so that they get a special chili flavor.
While the rice and lentils are ready, take the opportunity to prepare the guacamole which is super easy to make. Start by chopping the onion, tomatoes, chili, and coriander. Place the onion in a bowl, mash the avocado, and add to it. Pour in the lemon juice, add the tomatoes, and the pepper and add a little salt. Finally, add the coriander. Put the guacamole aside.
Let's make some guacamole! Ai ai ai! Arriba Mexico!
Now it is time to make our lentil chili. Place the olive oil and chopped garlic in a pan. Let it brown and mix the lentils, then add the barbecue sauce. Let it cool down.
That's it! Now it's time to assemble our burrito. I think that in this case, the rice sheet doesn't match anything with the dish, so we need to work on folding the rice sheet.
Open the rice sheet wide on a board. If necessary use two sheets even. Place 4 tablespoons of cooked rice, and 3 tablespoons of lentils and top with the guacamole. Now roll everything up and that's it! Arriba Mexico! We have a delicious burrito!
What did you think of this recipe? Did you like the idea of 2 in 1?
I hope you do at home and travel in these flavors of the world!