Vegetarian Wrap Sandwiches for Picnic

Time for another Blogging Marathon, BM# 6, and I’m part of group 2 that’s starting the marathon today with 19 fellow bloggers. Big thanks to Valli for organizing this edition. I’m super excited about this edition since I’ve taken “Picnic Food” as my theme. Picnics are so much fun, good time with friends & family and lots of good food.

We recently had a Father’s day picnic in a park close to where we live and we enjoyed it a LOT. Our dear host is an excellent organizer and we had everything from food to games all pre-planned and everybody had loads of fun.

Summer is already here in our neck of woods and what’s more perfect than having a picnic to enjoy the lovely summer weather. But while planning the food for a picnic, there are certain things to remember: do you have a cooler to keep the food chilled – if not then items that have eggs/ meat/ dairy etc. are NOT advisable to make. Do you plan to take silverware? If not then don’t make rice/ salads etc. that need spoons and forks to serve. Will the picnic spot have at least tables (if not chairs)? If not then don’t make anything elaborate to serve like a make yourself salad or rice and side dishes to go with it, portable sandwiches are perfect in this situation. So bottom line is do some research of the picnic area you will be visiting and carry food accordingly. Don’t forget to have lots of fun.

So for the next 7 days I’ll be posting recipes that are appropriate for picnics. Today I have these wraps that I made for our recent picnic. I made two fillings: Palak- Chole (Spinach-chickpea) & Teriyaki tofu. I took the spinach-chickpea filling idea from Nupur’s recipe here. Teriyaki tofu recipe is from Sala’s recipe here.

Here’s how I made the wraps:

Ingredients:
Tortillas – 12 (I used spinach and roasted garlic flavored)

Cabbage - 1 cup, finely grated

Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Broccoli slaw - 1 cup (this is packaged grated broccoli, carrots and red cabbage)

Jasmine rice - 1 cup, cooked

For Spinach – chickpea filling:
Chickpeas – 1 cup
Onion – 2 medium, finely chopped
Spinach – ½ bag of frozen chopped spinach (or 4-5 cups of fresh spinach)
Tomato puree – ¼ cup
Ginger+garlic paste – ½ tsp
Chana masala – ½ tsp
Red chili powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric – pinch
Salt – to taste

Method:

• Soak chickpeas in lots of water for at least 6 hours and pressure cook until soft. Keep aside.
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a sauté pan, add ½ tsp cumin seeds and once the seeds start to splutter add onions and sauté until lightly browned around the edges.
• Add g+g paste and turmeric, cook for a minute. Add thawed spinach and tomato puree, cook until spinach is cooked and tomatoes don’t smell raw, about 5-6 minutes.
• Next add channa masala, red chili powder, salt; mix well.
• Add the cooked chickpeas and cook until the heated through and the curry is almost dry.
• Check the seasonings and adjust accordingly.

For teriyaki tofu:

Ingredients:

Extra firm tofu – 1 15 oz. package

Soy sauce – ½ cup

Mirin – ¼ cup

Brown Sugar – ¼ cup

Rice vinegar – ¼ cup

Fresh ginger – 2tbsp, grated

Method:

• Drain and press tofu for at leave an hour to remove all the extra moisture. See here for Sala’s excellent pictorial on how to press tofu.
• Once ready, cut them into 1" long pieces and sauté until lightly browned on all sides.
• In the meantime make the teriyaki sauce: bring rest of the ingredients to a gentle boil in a small non stick sauce pan. Simmer for couple of minutes or until sugar is dissolved and thickens a little bit.
• When the tofu pieces are evenly browned on all sides, pour in the teriyaki sauce and let the mixture bubble and thicken on low flame for 2-3 minutes. Turn the tofu pieces around to coat with the sauce. Turn off the heat and keep the tofu ready for making the wraps.

Assembling the wraps:

• Microwave the tortillas for 25-30 seconds to make them pliable.
• Spinach-Chickpea wrap: Mix grated cabbage with some lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Place 2-3 tbsp spinach-chickpea curry filling and some cabbage mixture on the bottom half of the tortilla and fold the ends over the filling and roll and wrap to make the sandwich.
• Teriyaki Tofu Wrap: Mix broccoli slaw with some lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Place 2-3 tbsp jasmine rice, lay 3-4 tofu pieces and some broccoli slaw on the rice, fold, roll and wrap to make the sandwich.
• Cut the wraps in half for easy handling.

Notes: Choice of fillings for the wraps is endless, just make sure that fillings don't make the wraps soggy. ortillas can be easily substituted with rotis/ chapathis for a kathi roll kind of wraps. These wraps can stay out for may be 4-6 hours and should be refrigerated after that.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners are cooking for Day 1 of Blogging Marathon 6.

Update 6.30.11: Sending these wraps over to Valli's Sandwich Mela.