Lettuce Wrap with Sprouts Salad

Hey everyone.. light summer lunch today. I had never had lettuce wraps before. Tried them at a restaurant once and was totally bowled over by the incredible idea! First breads were replaced by tortillas, now tortillas have been replaced by lettuce! What next, one may ask..

Fig.1. Lettuce Wrap with Sprouts Salad

Ok, I admit I will shortly be replacing iceberg lettuce with savoy cabbage when you read on. ;) I felt it was a mite stronger than lettuce, also a bit larger. So I could wrap it quite reasonably and it held the stuffing better. But I am still calling it Lettuce Wraps. :)

The versions I have tasted at restaurants have mostly been soy sauce based with non-veg stuffing. Sometime later I noticed this Sprouts Salad version at Manjula's Kitchen. I loved the combination she has suggested here - oranges and tomatoes with lightly cooked green moong sprouts. I couldn't get the idea of that cool, juicy, sweet and salty combination out of my head. Just had to try it!

I followed most of her recipe, modified the dressing sauce a tiny bit.
Ingredients:
For Salad:
Whole green moong - 3/4 cup (Soak this in plenty of water overnight. Then drain it and let it sit in a dark, covered vessel for a few hours or so till it sprouts. May need to wet and drain every so often if the moong dries out. Warm weather will help. Cold weather may take longer.)
Tomatoes - 2 large, chopped into large pieces
Oranges - 2 large, peeled and chopped into large pieces
Cucumber - 1 medium chopped into large pieces (I skipped these this time round, but will remember to get this next time)
Green chillies - 1 finely chopped
Cilantro - a few sprigs, finely chopped

For dressing:
Soy sauce - 2 tablespoons or more
Ginger - 1 medium piece, finely grated, or more if you like ginger
Black pepper - tiny sprinkle
Salt - to taste

For wrap:
About 6 whole leaves of iceberg lettuce (I used savoy cabbage this time) 

Procedure:
1) Add just enough water to the sprouts to cover them (I did this in a microwave-safe bowl). Heat in the microwave for about 4-5 minutes till the sprouts are lightly cooked and somewhat soft. Drain leftover water (use it in soup or something else). Add salt to the sprouts, mix well and let them cool in the refrigerator.
2) When it's time to serve, take the salted chilled sprouts with tomatoes, oranges, cucumber, green chilles, chopped cilantro together in a bowl.  Mix all the ingredients for the dressing in a separate small bowl and add it to the salad. Lightly toss.
3) Now scoop some of the salad on to a lettuce/cabbage leaf, roll up the leaf into a wrap and dig in! 

Verdict: Cool, spicy and just perfect for summer! Definitely a keeper! Thanks, Manjula!

For lunch the next day: I tore up the leaves into pieces and packed them in a small snack bag. I separately packed the sprouts-salad+dressing in an airtight box. Then at lunchtime I added the leaves to the salad box and lightly mixed. That way the salad was not soggy.

Thanks for reading everyone!

This post goes to
1) Let's Sprout an event at Priya's Easy and Tasty blog where Priya is collecting recipes using sprouts.
2) My Legume Love Affair hosted by Siri of Siri's Corner, originally started by Susan, the Well Seasoned Cook.
3) Blog Bites # 5 where Nupur of One Hot Stove is collecting recipes for Sandwiches and Wraps.

Thanks to the gracious hosts for hosting these events and putting in your time and effort doing round-ups! Cheers!