Test Kitchen Tuesday: Teriyaki Tofu Wraps with Macadamia Roasted Garlic Spread

Test Kitchen Tuesday should maybe be called Teriyaki Test Kitchen with the roll I’ve been on lately.

To be fair, I knew I wanted to make something with tofu this week, and was originally leaning towards something with BBQ sauce. 2Chili loves his BBQ sauce. But, I couldn’t find anything that seemed like I would like, so, I went back to the Café Flora cookbook for inspiration and landed on something very much not BBQ!

These wraps are pretty quick and low maintenance if you plan ahead, and, even though he turned up his nose to the idea when I was prepping Tuesday morning, 2Chili quite enjoyed them. This is why I don’t like to tell him ahead of time what we’re having!

I made some changes to the original recipe to suit my audience. Namely, I didn’t season the jasmine rice (it called for cilantro, ginger, and mirin and – I didn’t want to get booed).

Teriyaki Tofu Wraps with Macadamia Roasted Garlic Spread

Original Recipe: Café Flora Cookbook

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Serves: 4

Time Required: Plan on about an hour, depending on how much you prepare in advance

Skill Level (out of 5):

2Chili’s Taster Rating (out of 5):

This one got a “you can make this again,” rating. Not bad for something he initially seemed very disgusted at the thought of!

The Cook’s Taster Rating (out of 5):

I thought this was really quite good, and the sprouts and carrots gave it a nice crunch.

For the wrap

Ingredients:

1 (14-16 ounce) block of firm tofu, pressed, or extra firm tofu
½ cup of prepared teriyaki sauce (recommend Soy Vay Island Teriyaki)
4 (12 inch or wrap size) spinach flour tortillas
½ cup Macadamia Roasted Garlic Spread (recipe below)
1 cup shredded carrots
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1 cup spicy or crunch sprouts
¾ cup Jasmine rice

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F
Put the rice in a saucepan with 1 ¼ cups water and cover the pot. Bring the pot to a boil, reduce heat to low, and re-cover the pot. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the water has been absorbed
Pat dry pressed tofu blocks and cut them across the shorter side into ½ inch slabs. Lay them in a baking dish in a single layer
Pour ½ cup teriyaki sauce over the tofu slices. Bake until the teriyaki sauce forms a thick glaze – 25-35 minutes. Check occasionally to make sure that it doesn’t burn, and gently turn the tofu several times as it cooks
Remove the tofu from the pan while it’s still hot, and pour the thickened sauce over the slices. Set aside to cool. When it’s cool, cut each slice into 4 thick sticks
Warm a tortilla in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 10 to 15 seconds. Flip it over and warm on the other side for 5-10 seconds. Repeat for the other tortillas as you build the warps.

Build the Wrap

Lay the tortilla flat on a work surface and spread with 2 tablespoons of the Macadamia Roasted Garlic Spread, leaving a 2-inch border all around.
Drop ¼ cup of the rice into the center of the wrap and spread it out. Top this with a quarter of the baked teriyaki tofu sticks
Scatter ¼ cup carrots, 2 tablespoons scallions, and ¼ cup sprouts over the tofu and drizzle one tablespoon of teriyaki sauce over all
Fold the sides of the tortilla in towards the filling. Roll the tortilla starting with the end closest to you, keeping the sides folded in.
Build the remaining three wraps and roll as above
Using a very sharp knife, cut each wrap in half at an angle and serve

For the Roasted Garlic Macadamia Spread

Makes about 1.5 cups

Ingredients:

1 large head garlic
½ cup olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
1 cup macadamia nuts, preferably unsalted

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 F
Break up the bulb of garlic into cloves, leaving the papery skin on each clove
Toss the cloves with 1 tablespoon of oil to coat, and put in a small baking dish covered with foil
Roast in the oven until the cloves are soft, about 30 minutes
When the roasted cloves are cool enough to handle, squeeze the soft garlic out of the paper skin and into the bowl of a food processor
Add the macadamia nuts, and give the mixture six or seven 1-second pulses until it is wet and crumbly
Scrape down the bowl, and then, with the motor running, add the ½ cup of olive oil until it’s completely incorporated
Add salt to taste

Nutrition:

Note: There are so many variables that go into this item that will impact the sodium levels. I calculated this based on Soy Vay Island teriyaki sauce and low sodium wraps.

The Verdict: With a little pre-planning (like making rice and roasting garlic ahead of time), this is a quick and easy weekday meal. We both thought it would be fine without the macadamia spread, which would save a lot of calories (and cost). Next time, I plan to make it sans spread to see if there is a big difference. But, overall, another winner from Café Flora!

UPDATE: I used cashew cheese as the spread when we had this as leftovers, and, I have to say – it was way better than the macadamia spread. If you have some cashews laying around, soak 1/2 cup for a few hours, drain, and blend up with 1 tbs of nutritional yeast and a splash of water. I thought this spread was delish on these wraps!