Recently, I blogged about rice and bean thread noodles. I used rice noodles as part of the filling for Asian style vegetable wraps I made for my daughter, who has been a vegetarian for many years. She was looking through one of my vegetarian cookbooks, The Best Ever Vegetarian Cookbook by Nicola Graimes (Barnes & Noble Books, 1999), where she saw a recipe for a vegetable wrap.
No Chickens Allowed
The recipe I was making, from the vegetarian cookbook mentioned above, was for cilantro omelet packages with oriental vegetables. My daughter liked the idea of mixed vegetables being stir-fried and wrapped up somehow, but she isn’t a big fan of eggs. We decided to use flour tortilla’s as our wrap, and we even used whole wheat pita pockets for some of the leftovers the next day.
New and Improved Recipe
I drastically changed the original recipe, and came up with an all new recipe for Asian style vegetable wraps. My daughter and I both thought this recipe was super delicious. She took a bit of the leftovers with her for her school lunch the next day. She placed the vegetable wrap filling, in a small plastic container, and wrapped up a couple of tortilla’s in foil. I think she added a small container of mandarin oranges, and a carton of chocolate soy milk for a complete and delicious vegetarian meal.
Easy on the Seasonings
Ponzu sauce is a thin, soy sauce which is flavored with citrus. My daughter doesn’t like overly flavored or spicy foods, so I kept the seasonings a bit on the light side. If I were making this just for myself, I would probably increase the amount of hoisin sauce and chili oil a bit, or even add a fresh Thai chili or two. You could change this dish to appeal to meat eaters and omnivores by adding a bit of ground beef or chicken to the recipe.
Asian Style Vegetable Wraps
Ingredients
- 1 bunch rice thread noodles – cooked
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/8 tsp chili oil – add more or less as desired
- 1 inch piece fresh ginger root – peeled and grated
- 2 cloves garlic – minced
- 1 bunch green onions – sliced thin
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- 1 cup grated carrot
- 1 cup pea pods – cut into thirds
- 3 cups Napa cabbage or Chinese cabbage – shredded
- 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves – chopped
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp Ponzu sauce
Instructions
To Soften Rice Noodles
- Remove one bundle of rice noodles from the package.
- Place the bundle in a large bowl.
- Cover the noodles with hot water.
- Let the rice noodles soak for 10 minutes.
- Drain off the water.
- Cut the softened noodles into 2-3 inch long lengths.
- Continue following the Asian style vegetable wrap recipe.
Vegetable Wraps
- Heat the vegetable oil and chili oil in a wok, or a large frying pan.
- Stir the ginger into the wok, and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir the garlic and green onions into the wok, and cook for an additional minute.
- Add the broccoli and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the carrot and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in the snow peas and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in the Chinese cabbage and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in the cilantro leaves.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the hoisin sauce, water and ponzu sauce.
- Stir the sauce mixture into the pan full of stir fried vegetables.
- Cook for another minute or two, until the cabbage has wilted, and all the vegetables are well coated with the sauce.
- Stir in the prepared rice noodles.
- NOTE: Make sure you don't overcook the vegetables. They should still be a bit crispy, and not mushy, after cooking. The cooking times given in this recipe are just guidelines.
- Remove the wok from the heat and serve immediately.
- Use rice paper wrappers (i.e. spring roll wrappers), flour tortillas or pita pockets to make vegetable wraps.
- Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days.
Notes
For a lower carb option, ditch the tortillas and pita pockets and use this filling as the basis for lettuce wraps!
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