San choy bau with a little twist

April 27, 2016 jules

San choy bau is a simple Asian dish that is really tasty as well as fabulously healthy. It is a bit of fun for kids of all ages, and is also a great way to reduce portion size.

Standard san choy bau uses iceberg lettuce which you can use if you want, but I prefer some of the fancier lettuces which have more flavour in my opinion. This one uses Cos lettuce leaves which were too small for proper wrapping, but they did provide a bit of a ‘wow’ factor at the table. (My three year old is easy to please!)

The Mince

The mince mixture is really easy. We cook about 1 kg of mince to make 3 dinners and freeze the extras in batches so that we can have quick dinners on those busy nights. Just adjust the quantities below to suit the amount of mince you choose and required portion size. We tend to use pork mince, but other types are suitable.

1kg lean pork mince
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3cm piece ginger, finely grated
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon Maggi seasoning

San choy bau is really about the mince, ginger, and lettuce, so these are just the basics and you can adjust to suit taste and add other ingredients such as chili, nuts, mushrooms, beansprouts, carrot, onion, etc. It really is a very flexible and forgiving base to work with. You can omit the Maggi seasoning to reduce the salt content; but, it does add an authentic flavour.

To Serve

To serve, we add some diced capsicum for visual appeal and a fresh crunch. In it’s simplest form, san choy bau is a low-carb meal, so I also add a little bit of rice and quinoa which you can buy in small tubs from the supermarket that cook in the microwave for about a minute. This provides a small amount of carbohydrates to the meal, which my boys (big and small) need.

Spoon the mixture into the lettuce, or put in bowls on the table and let everyone help themselves. You can also serve with fresh herbs if you like – I find coriander goes beautifully with this dish, but mint would work well too.