Sang Choy Bow (Chicken Lettuce Wrap)

"Lettuce is like conversation: It must be fresh and crisp, and so sparkling that you scarcely notice the bitter in it." (C.D. Warner, 19th century).

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!!! No...unfortunately, I'm not cooking Irish food today. 

Initially, I wanted to make steamed egg with chicken minced, but I thought it tastes a little bit plain, because the other dish that I'm going to cook today is just a plain stir fry vege. Then, I thought about Sang Choy Bow (as known in chinese), so I decided to use my minced chicken to make Sang Choy Bow instead.

The direct translation of Sang Choy Bow is "Fresh Vegetable Wrap". It basically means having the dish with fresh vegetable. And what is the most popular vegetable to be eaten raw? Of course 'Lettuce'. On my way back home, I stopped at Coles to get some lettuces, ideally this dish is to be served with iceberg lettuce, but they ran out of it, so I bought Baby Lettuce instead.

Sang Choy Bow is a very famous dish that has found itself very much at chinese restaurants in Australia. Most of you should be familiar with Peking Duck, the Sang Choy Bow is usually the second course that you can choose to have with the remaining meat of your Peking duck.

Sang Choy Bow

Ingredients:

- 400gm minced chicken

- A handful of shitake mushroom (soaked in water and chopped finely)

- 5 Garlic cloves (if you don't like too garlicky, then reduce the amount)

- A handful of finely chopped spring onions

- 1 onion (chopped to dice size)

- Cooking Oil

- Fresh lettuce ( peel lettuce leaves, becareful not to break the leaves)

Marination sauce:

- 1 tbsp sweet soya sauce

- 1 tbsp oyster sauce

- 1 tbsp cooking wine ( I used Shao Xing)

- 1 tbsp soya sauce

- 1/2 tsp sugar

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 1/2 tsp corn flour

- 1 tsp white pepper

Method:

1) Mix the minced chicken, chopped mushroom, chopped onions, chopped spring onions and marination sauce. Mix well and leave for 10-15 minutes

2) Heat up a wok and add cooking oil. 

3) Add in the garlic, saute until fragrant and golden.

4) Add in chicken mixture and stir it until chicken is cooked.

5) Dish out.

Optional:

- I use Hoisin sauce as the dipping sauce to add more flavour to the Sang Choy Bow.

Hold one lettuce leaf on your palm and scoop a spoonful of the chicken and place it on the middle of the leaf. Optional is to add a bit of hoisin sauce on top of it (becareful not to add too much, as hoisin sauce itself is salty). 

Wrap it up and have a mouthful of it!

To complement the already healthy dish, is the plain stir fry vegetable with garlic. 

Yum yum!