Fresh leaves of romaine lettuce are smeared with a gooey, intensely flavored paste of ground cashews, ginger, and Asian seasonings. Then the lettuce leaves function like a taco shell to hold your choice of crunchy fillings. Put a platter of romaine leaves in front of your guests with a bunch of fillings and it’s a party—especially if you’re sampling craft beers.
The Sweet Chili Sauce is a sweet and slightly spicy Southeast Asian–inspired dipping sauce that can accompany lettuce wraps, dumplings, spring rolls, samosas, tempura, baked tofu, etc. Use whatever sugar you like and have on hand. The sugar you choose to use will affect the color of the sauce somewhat: with brown sugar or coconut sugar (available in the natural foods section of well-stocked supermarkets), it will be darker than with granulated white sugar. The optional red bell pepper makes it more reddish.
Serves 8 as a snack or appetizer
Yields 1¼ cups Sweet Chili Sauce
Time: 45 minutes
2 tablespoons peeled and grated fresh ginger
1½ cups salted roasted cashews
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese chili paste, or a few squirts of hot sauce
½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
1 jalapeño pepper, stemmed and coarsely chopped
⅓ cup rice vinegar
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon crushed or minced garlic
2 teaspoons minced red fresh hot pepper (Fresno, jalapeño, etc.)
1 teaspoon hot sauce or Chinese chili paste
¾ cup water
¼ red bell pepper, seeded and minced (optional)
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water
Bean sprouts (mung, soybean, alfalfa, mixed peppery-spicy sprouts)
Grated carrots (cut into very thin matchsticks or grated into long threads)
Cucumber sticks (peeled and seeded, and cut into thin matchsticks)
Cilantro leaves (rinsed, patted dry, and coarsely chopped)
Mint leaves (rinsed, patted dry, and chopped)
Scallions (sliced diagonally)
8 romaine lettuce leaves
Make the flavor paste: In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the ginger, cashews, and brown sugar until the cashews are coarsely chopped. Add the sesame oil, soy sauce, hoisin, chili paste, cilantro, and jalapeño. Process until you have a dark brown paste about the consistency of crunchy peanut butter.
Make the sweet chili sauce: In a small saucepan on medium heat, combine the vinegar, sugar, garlic, hot peppers, hot sauce, water, bell pepper (if using), and salt, and bring to a simmer. Stir in the cornstarch and water mixture. Bring back to a simmer and stir until the sauce has thickened and coats a spoon. Allow it to cool enough to taste it. It should be sweet, spicy, and with a little taste of salt. If you’d like it spicier, add another squirt of hot sauce or more minced hot peppers.
Rinse and dry the romaine leaves. Spread about 1½ tablespoons of the flavor paste over about 2 inches on both sides of the inner spine of each leaf. Pile on two or three or more of the fillings. Either drizzle on some Sweet Chili Sauce or serve it in small shallow dipping dishes. To eat, hold the filled lettuce like a taco.
Aside from being a good companion to these “tacos,” the Sweet Chili Sauce is also good with Sweet Potato Croquettes and Jamaican Jerk Tempeh Patties.