San Choy Bau

I love san choy bau – the crisp lettuce balances out the rich pork and vegetable mix in one handy (albeit a bit messy) “cup”. It’s one of those dishes where I am sure you can substitute chicken for pork, and also add in any vegetables you have on hand, but I found water chestnuts at my grocery store and that inspired me to cook this dish – it adds another dimension to the dish with a nice crunch.

Ingredients – 6 portions as a starter or enough for 2 hungry people for lunch

1. Iceberg lettuce – whole
2. 1 large onion – diced
3. 200g pork mince
4. 100g baby corn – sliced about 1/2cm thick
5. 50g water chestnuts – peeled and diced into small pieces
6. 50g mushrooms – any sort, I used swiss brown
7. 3 tbls oyster sauce
8. 1 tbl light soya sauce

Method

1. With the core of the lettuce facing down, bang the head of lettuce, on the core – this will make it easier to remove the leaves whole
2. Remove any wilted outer leaves and carefully remove the inside leaves, trying to keep them as whole as possible
3. Place in a bowl of iced water to keep them crisp
4. Over low heat, sweat the onions until soft
5. Increase the heat to high and brown the mince
6. Add in the vegetables and cook for 3 minutes until vegetables are cooked through
7. Add in the oyster and light soya sauce and stir to combine
8. You can trim the lettuce so it makes a nice neat “cup” to hold the stir fried mixture
9. Spoon mix into lettuce cups and enjoy hot !