The White Hat Recipe for San Choy Bow

San Choy Bow (lettuce cups with filling)

First you will need a lettuce. Let’s face it; lettuces have practically no nutritional value unless you eat the snails as well so forget about your fancy designer lettuces. You want one with crunch for this so choose a cos or a large iceberg – like the one that sunk the Titanic.

Then you will need some aromatics. Onions, garlic, lemongrass and chillies.

Then some texture. Dried Chinese mushrooms soaked in a small amount of warm water, water chestnuts (canned ones are fine) and maybe some bean shoots.

Then some pork mince. If you are vegetarian use any of your favourite substitutes for minced dead animal. Be prepared to pay a bit more for a good quality mince that is not full of fat. We find that Shop 14 in the Vic Market meat hall has consistently good pork mince.

Then some bright herbs such as coriander, mint or parsley.

Finally some sauces. You’ll find your Chinese grocery store probably sells jars of San Choy Bow sauce. Failing that, any sticky dark sweet Asian sauce such as Ketjap Manis will usually work well.

OK, now we’re ready. Finely chop the onions, garlic, chilli and the soft part of the lemongrass and the roots of the coriander (you do buy coriander compete with roots don’t you?). If you haven’t got fresh lemongrass, Chinese grocery stores usually stock chopped frozen lemongrass. Chop the fresh ginger into matchsticks. This is one occasion when a non-stick frypan will often be better suited than a wok because you will probably need to spend some time breaking up the mince and it would burn in a hot wok.

Into a frypan add a little oil and your chopped aromatics. Fry lightly until they just start to colour and become fragrant. Add the pork mince and continue to break it up with a wooden spoon. Add the soaking water from the mushrooms and some of your dark sauce(s). Continue too cook fro several minutes until the mince is fully broken up and cooked through. Place the mince mixture in a bowl in the middle of the table.

Also on the table place your lettuce and bowls of chopped herbs, chopped reconstituted mushrooms, chopped water chestnut, extra ginger matchsticks and chopped chilli, dark sauces and plenty of napkins. People can then tear off their own lettuce leaves and spoon in their own combination of ingredients and eat the resulting lettuce cup with their hands. Kids usually love this sort of food, and adults with a beard or a particularly large cleavage find that they have often conveniently saved some for later.