Oriental Veggie Wrappo

I love the vegetable wrap from Element Fresh, one of my favorite health-freak places to eat in Beijing and Shanghai. I almost always grab one of these wraps at the Hongqiao Airport for fear of going hungry on China Eastern Airlines, where they give you a nasty roujiamo (something like a chinese burger) wrapped in foil for the 2 hour flight back to Beijing.

Anyway, it's getting to be an expensive craving to fulfill regularly because I live a good 35 kuai taxi ride away from the Sanlitun branch in Beijing. So, on a boring weekend afternoon, I decided to try and reinvent something more economical. This is what I came up with...

The Oriental Veggie Wrappo

Ingredients:
2 flour tortillas (see recipe that follows if you too, have a lot of time and flour in your hands)

For the filling
1/2 large carrot, peeled
2 stalks celery
2 cubes five-spice dried bean curd
1/2 cup enoki Mushrooms
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 cup bamboo shoots (packaged, ready to eat)

1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp olive oil



1. Julienne the carrot, celery, bean curd and bamboo shoots into thin strips/matchsticks. Slice slice and slice away! Then, set aside.

2. Roast Bell Peppers and Enoki Mushrooms*:
Preheat oven to 230 C. Slice the bell pepper into strips and coat with 1 tsp olive oil. In a bowl, rub the enoki mushrooms with 1 tsp olive oil, sesame oil and soy sauce. Spread pepper and mushrooms in a single layer on a baking sheet, place on baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until mushrooms are cooked and bell peppers are slightly browned. Allow to cool before using.

3. Spread the ingredients evenly on your tortillas. Roll up each tortilla and cut each rolled wrap in half diagonally. Enjoy.

*Alternatively, you can just stir fry them if you're in a rush, or if you like to eat your peppers raw, you can skip this~~




Note: The dried bean curd I bought was extremely flavorful and salty, so I didn't need to use much seasonings for the other veggies.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

From Classic Breads: Delicious Recipes from All Around the World

Original Recipe makes 10 tortillas, but mine were a little big so I got 7...

5 cups + 650g all purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp margarine
1 cup + 370 g hot water

1. Mix in flour, yeast and salt in a bowl. Add the margarine (I formed some crumbs with my fingers)and slowly pour the hot water into the bowl. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is elastic and compact. Place in a well-greased bowl, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Turn the dough out onto the work surface and divide it into 10 small, equal-sized balls. Roll these out with a rolling pin to a thickness of 1/4 inch (5 mm) each.
3. Heat a iron skillet (or in my case, a frying pan) and when it is hot, cook the tortillas for about 1 minute on each side (until it looks kind of bubbly and brown spots start to appear). Remove from heat and set aside until needed.