I’m not sure what drives the flavor of these home more, the sauce, the crushed peanuts or the spicy mayo, but I like it ALL a lot! I got this recipe from – of course Pinch of Yum, – one of the places I share from the most around here.
You can find my version of Cheesecake Factory’s Asian lettuce wraps here, from all the way back in 2011. Wow, this is an old blog!
Anyway, I didn’t fully read Lindsay’s recipe when I made my sauce, and quickly dumped it on the cooked cauliflower and returned it to the oven for an additional 30 minutes to get it sticky. Then, realized it needed to simmer in a saucepan instead. Oops! It still worked, but took me double the time to get thickened and left me with a really burnt on sticky pan… Thankfully, when I cook, the hubs does the dishes. Yay!
Here we go…
What you will will need for the lettuce cups:
1- large head of cauliflower, washed and cut into small flower pieces
Generous spashes of olive oil
Salt
Butter lettuce leaves
Crushed peanuts
Green onions, diced
Spicy mayo (2 heaping tablespoons of mayo, with as many squirts or splashes of your favorite type of hot sauce) I use Chalola and thinned it with a bit of water. Stir well.
Here’s what you do and in what order I do things:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Wash, cut up, and pat dry the cauliflower. Drizzle with some olive oil and salt to taste. Toss. Roast it all on a baking sheet for 30 minutes
Pulse two handfuls of peanuts in a food processor, or put in a baggie and press with a spoon to break up into smaller pieces. Set aside.
Cut up green onions. Set aside.
Make spicy mayo. Set aside.
Make your sauce now:
1/2 – cup soy sauce (I use GF)
1/4 – cup brown sugar
1 – clove garlic, or generous sprinkling of garlic powder
1- one inch piece of ginger or two generous sprinkles of ground ginger (I used ground and it was fine.)
1- Tablespoon rice vinegar
1- Tablespoon of your favorite hot sauce (less if you like it more mild, of course…)
1 – Tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
1/2 cornstarch
Combine this in a pan and bring to a simmer, stirring until thickened
Pull cauliflower out of the oven and pour over the cauliflower and return to roasting until soft and the sauce is thick and sticky. Toss well to incorporate.
While thats finishing up, prepare your cups by washing and patting dry some butter lettuce leaves and arrange on a plate.
Line each cup with cauliflower, top with spicy mayo, nuts, and green onions and serve.
Idea: You can make this same concoction with tofu for yet another vegan dinner.
This made 12 lettuce cups.
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