Tofu Lettuce Cups
with miso soup
This homemade teriyaki sauce is always a favorite in our community members' kitchens and got great reviews when it was featured back in 2015. This fresh, flavorful meal includes a very simple homemade miso soup on the side.
Ingredients
- Tofu, extra-firm - 16 oz, chopped (vacuum-packed preferable)
- Iceberg lettuce - 8 leaves, sub large outer leaves from Romaine hearts
- Water chestnuts - 5 oz, drained and chopped
- Mushrooms, shiitake - 8 oz, chopped
- Green onions - 1 stalk, chopped
- Oil, cooking - 2 Tbsp
- Garlic - 2 cloves, chopped
- Ginger, fresh - 2 tsp, grated
- Water - 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp
- Soy sauce, low-sodium - 3 Tbsp
- Mirin - 2 Tbsp
- Brown sugar - 1 1/2 Tbsp
- Cornstarch - 2 tsp
- Green onions - 1 stalk, sliced
- Water - 6 cups
- Miso paste, any type - 5 Tbsp
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Tofu - If tofu is packaged in water, press out liquid first, like in this video. Then chop into small pieces. (Can be done 1 day ahead
- Garlic / Ginger - Prep as directed and combine. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Make teriyaki sauce - Combine garlic, ginger, first portion of water (for sauce), soy sauce, mirin, and brown sugar. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Iceberg lettuce / Water chestnuts / Mushrooms / Green onions (for lettuce cups and soup) - Prep as directed. For lettuce, slice off stem and then peel off leaves from the stem end. Store separately. (Can be done up to 2 days ahead)
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Make
- Bring a saucepan with water (portion for soup) to a boil. Put miso paste into a separate bowl and whisk some of the hot water into the miso paste until it’s smooth, like peanut butter. Pour miso into the boiling water and lower to a simmer.
- While miso soup is simmering, heat a wok or skillet with oil over medium-high heat. Add tofu and saute until starting to brown, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Stir in mushrooms and water chestnuts. Cook for another 4 to 5 minutes until mushrooms are very tender.
- Pour teriyaki sauce over tofu and bring to a simmer.
- Meanwhile, whisk together cornstarch and second portion of water (for sauce). Add cornstarch mixture to pan with tofu and stir everything together. Continue cooking until sauce thickens and coats ingredients, 3 to 5 minutes more.
- Season miso soup with salt if needed. Spoon tofu filling into lettuce cups and divide miso soup between serving bowls. Garnish both with green onions. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
32 reviews
I made the paleo sauce bc I didn't have Mirin. This was two thumbs up. Miso soup was super easy. I will make this again.
0 HelpfulOther reviewers mentioned using broth instead of water. I wish we had NOT done that. Tasted more like the broth than the miso. We had a cabbage from our CSA box and used that instead of the lettuce leaves. In the future we might do that again - they were much hardier and less likely to rip than lettuce. You could taste them a little, though - so might not be for everyone. We liked it that way though. Filling was good. We doubled the spices, though. (We ALWAYS double the spices...)
0 HelpfulI am waffling between a 3 and 4 rating for this. Ultimately I am going for 3 because as is, I think it could use a bit more flavor. After reading the reviews, I used 1/2 broth and 1/2 water for the miso soup. I rounded up the miso. I also added some thinly sliced garlic and added fresh spinach at the end to up the flavor and veggie components. For the stir-fry, I also increased the amounts of garlic and ginger to give it more flavor. I first sauteed some red onions and thinly sliced carrots before adding the ground chicken. Added some salt and pepper as everything was sauteeing. I added some chopped cilantro on top of the lettuce cups (used butter lettuce) at the end and felt this enhanced the flavors. I also had leftover sweet chili sauce from the recent Thai Sweet Chili Salmon recipe and this was also a great topper for the lettuce cups. Was excited to use some years-old water chestnuts that were in the back of the pantry for this and the crunch of the water chestnuts and lettuce were nice complements to the soft texture of the mushrooms and chicken. With some enhancements, the dish made it into 4 star territory for me. :)
0 HelpfulThis was easy to make and really tasty. Made a big batch of the teriyaki chicken, shiitake, and water chestnut filling over the weekend, and then reheated and filled lettuce cups for a super quick weekday lunch. The two things I would do differently next time would be to add the water chestnuts right at the end of cooking so they retain that crunch, and get romaine lettuce leaves, they might hold up better to the hearty filling than butter lettuce.
0 HelpfulWe really liked this! I did everything by the recipe and the soup was such a great addition. Very filling and flavorful.
0 Helpful