Korean lettuce wraps with mushroom steaks

If you take a cluster of oyster mushrooms and fry them whole while pressing down on them hard, you end up with an amazing mushroom steak. It is a thing of beauty and a method we have seen all over the internet, developed by chef Derek Sarno. Here, we give the mushrooms a Korean flavour and serve them with noodles and a sliced cucumber salad in little lettuce wraps. It’s a flavour feast that will please vegetarians and carnivores alike. Can’t find oyster mushrooms? You can use the same method with other types of mushroom. They won’t hold together in the same way but they will be equally crunchy and tasty.

40 MINUTES | SERVES 4 | EASY | LC

CUCUMBER SALAD

rice vinegar 2 tbsp

maple syrup 1 tsp

garlic 1 clove, minced

ginger finely grated to make 1 tsp

sea salt flakes 1 tsp

cucumber 1 small, finely sliced

spring onion 1, finely sliced

toasted sesame seeds 1 tbsp

MUSHROOM STEAKS

sesame oil 1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari 1 tbsp rice vinegar 1 tsp

maple syrup 1 tsp

dried Korean chilli flakes or dried chilli flakes ½ tsp sea salt flakes ½ tsp

coconut oil 2-3 tbsp

oyster mushrooms 2 large clusters (about 75g each) WRAPS

vermicelli noodles 100g vegan mayonnaise or mayonnaise 4 tbsp gochujang or sriracha 1 tbsp

Little Gem lettuces (or similar shaped lettuces) 16-20 leaves

kimchi 150g

coriander a handful of chopped

1 Start by preparing the salad. In a bowl, stir together the rice vinegar, maple syrup, garlic, ginger and salt. Add the cucumber and spring onion, and toss gently, making sure that all of the cucumber slices are dressed. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.

2 Cook the noodles following pack instructions, then drain and set aside. Stir together the mayo and gochujang in a bowl.

3 To prepare the mushrooms, stir together the sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, maple syrup, chilli flakes and salt in a small bowl. Put a large cast-iron frying pan over a high heat for a few minutes. Add 2 tsp of the coconut oil and put the two whole mushroom clusters in the pan. Put another heavy pan on top of the mushrooms and press down firmly for 30 seconds. This will release liquid from the mushrooms and result in a crunchy texture. Remove the top pan and wipe it dry with a paper towel. Let the mushroom steaks fry for 3 minutes, then flip to cook on the other sides. Add the remaining oil, if needed, and give them another hard press with the second pan, holding it down for 30 seconds. Repeat the flip and press method for a few minutes or until the mushrooms are well charred on both sides. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the sesame oil and soy mixture to the mushrooms, flipping for 2 minutes, to make sure they soak up all the sauce. 4 Transfer the mushrooms to a chopping board and slice them into 1cm steaks using a sharp knife. Put the board on the table, along with all the other ingredients, and let the feast begin. To assemble the wraps, just add a little bit of each element to a lettuce cup and eat it like a taco.

PER SERVING 355 kcals | fat 21.1G saturates 6.3G | carbs 32.6G | sugars 9.3G fibre 4.2G | protein 6.6G | salt 3.3G

low cal