i looooove lettuce wraps. in my pre-veg days, when i was a wee baby, we used to get this with duck at restaurants for special occasions. it’s pretty easy to put together, and there’s a nice social aspect to eating them. make each wrap as you are ready to eat them, with the sauce, filling and lettuce all out on the table for people to take for themselves. if you’re hungry, i would make this as an accompaniment to something else because it’s not super filling.

1/2 long eggplant, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1/2 block flavoured tofu, diced

3 dried shitake mushrooms (soaked for 30 minutes), diced

3 brown mushrooms, diced

4 tbsp diced water chestnuts

3 scallions, sliced

2 inch piece of ginger, minced

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp rice vinegar

1 tsp black vinegar

2 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp chili bean sauce

pinch chili flakes

iceberg lettuce, leaves separated

hoisin sauce

You want everything in this evenly diced.

First things first, dice your eggplant, put in a colander and salt it. let sit for 15 minutes. Shake off all the salt and blot with a clean dishtowel.  In a large pan, heat enough oil to cover the bottom. throw in your eggplant and brown. add mushrooms and let them release their liquid. Add celery, carrot, shitakes, tofu, waterchestnut and cook until carrots are just cooked. add garlic, scallions and ginger. let cook for a couple minutes then add all seasoning. mix evenly.

To serve put a tablespoon of hoisin sauce in the bottom of your lettuce leaf, then add filling. wrap burrito style and eat!