Chicken San Choy Bow

Ingredients

• 1 iceberg lettuce (makes approx. 6 lettuce cups)
• 500g chicken thigh fillet, diced
• a few slices of ginger, approximately 5g, minced
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1-2 Chinese mushrooms, rehydrate in hot water for 20-30 minutes, diced
• 1/2 of a small carrot (approx. 30g), diced
• some bamboo shoot, approx. 30g, diced
• some frozen peas, approx. 2 tbsp.
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp Chinese wine
• white pepper to taste
• 1 tsp corn flour, mixed with 1 tbsp. water
• cooking oil
• sesame seeds, to garnish

Method

Cutting the lettuce cup

• Use a sharp knife, cut into the core of iceberg lettuce, about 2 inches deep, in a circular motion. This should remove the inner core of the lettuce without damaging the leaves, and leave a ‘cave’ at the top of the lettuce.
• With the ‘cave’ side up, run the lettuce under running water.  The water will loosen the leaves, and you should be able to peel the off the leaves.  Discard the most outside leaves that are not presentable, and the most inner leaves that are not smooth and tidy.   You may get about 6-8 lettuce cups from each lettuce.
• Use a pair of scissors,  cut each piece of the lettuce into a round cup
• Place the cups into a container of water, cover with a damp cloth until ready to use

Stir fry the chicken

• Heat up a frying pan with some cooking oil, add chicken, Chinese mushrooms, ginger, garlic and sugar and sauté briefly; add oyster sauce toss
• Add carrot, bamboo shoot, frozen peas, white pepper sauté briefly
• Add Chinese wine, sesame oil and dark soy sauce, toss
• Add corn flour mixture, stir to thicken the liquid (there should be no visible liquid left)

Serving the san choy bow

Place a lettuce cup on a plate, add about 2-3 tbsp. of filling. Garnish with sesame seeds.