For my daughter’s 10th birthday, I took 15 giggling girls to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse.
If you’ve been to a teppanyaki restaurant, you know that the chefs put on a spectacle for the diners, cooking the meal tableside on giant griddles — spinning knives, tossing utensils, drumming out rhythmic beats and dazzling the crowd with their stacks of onions lit into volcanos.
But it turns out it was the bowls of edamame that thrilled the girls most. Steamed soybeans beat out flaming poofs of oil-fueled fire. Who knew?
Whether the girls felt trendy squeezing the little beans into their mouths or just loved the mild flavor and firm texture, I’m not sure. But everyone seemed to love edamame.
The good news is edamame is delicious and nothing at all like tofu (the better-known soy food). And frozen edamame is available at nearly every grocery store, which means this nutritious bean can easily join your home-cooking repertoire. And a half cup of shelled edamame has about 10 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber with just 100 calories.
To showcase edamame’s versatility, I’ve created this recipe for edamame and walnut lettuce wraps. Though Japanese in spirit, it skews Mexican in flavor. I pair tasty, firm edamame with crunchy walnuts and some spices to make a cold vegetarian “meat” for lettuce wraps or tacos. Vegetarians will love this recipe, but so will meat-lovers.
A batch of the filling will last for several days, reminding me that edamame is so much more than just a teppanyaki prelude.
Food Network star Melissa d’Arabian is an expert on healthy eating on a budget. She is the author of the cookbook, “Supermarket Healthy.”
Edamame and walnut lettuce wraps
Start to finish: 15 minutes. Servings: 4
Ingredients
FOR THE CUCUMBER-AVOCADO SALSA:
1 small English cucumber, cut into ½ -inch cubes
1 small avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into ½ -inch cubes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
1 scallion, chopped
Juice of ½ lime (about 1 tablespoon)
FOR THE FILLING:
1 cup shelled edamame
1 cup walnut pieces
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
cup jarred tomato salsa (or 1 chopped small tomato)
Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
TO SERVE:
8 large butter lettuce leaves
½ cup low-fat plain Greek yogurt
Sliced radishes
Lime wedges
Directions
To prepare the cucumber-avocado salsa, in a medium bowl toss together all ingredients. Set aside.
To prepare the filling, in a food processor combine the edamame, walnuts, cumin and chili powder. Pulse until finely chopped but still a little chunky. Add the jarred salsa and lime juice and pulse another five to 10 times to bind the mixture. If the mixture is too dry, add water 1 teaspoon at a time until the consistency is to your liking.
To assemble, place 2 lettuce leaves on each serving plate. Add about ¼ cup edamame mixture to the center of each leaf. Top with 1 tablespoon of the cucumber-avocado salsa, 1 tablespoon of the yogurt, radish slices and a squeeze of lime.
Nutrition information per serving: 350 calories; 260 calories from fat (74 percent of total calories); 29 g fat (3.5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 19 g carbohydrate; 9 g fiber; 6 g sugar; 13 g protein; 310 mg sodium.
