Everyone loves good Chinese, myself included, and san choy bow is one of my all-time favourite starters. Served in tiny lettuce ‘cups’, the intermingling flavours of the meat, exotic mushrooms and oyster sauce are so delectable I can never stop at just one.
Now, it may look like a lot of ingredients and work, but the dish is quick to prepare, MSG free if you get the right sauces (avoid those containing flavour enhancer 621) and tastes very authentic. The secret to this is getting the texture of the pork mince right. To achieve the small granules of fried pork and therefore a larger surface to which the spices can stick, ‘mash’ the pork with a balloon whisk during frying to break it down into small chunks. It’s that easy!
If you are concerned about the amount of oil used in this recipe, place the finished mince mixture in a large sieve over a bowl and let the oil drain away. Serve the oil in a little bowl for those who like their san choy bow sauce dripping down their fingers as they much on this delicacy.
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Serves 2-4
Quick pork san choy bow
The secret to the perfect san choy bow is getting the texture of the pork mince right. To achieve the small granules of fried pork and therefore a larger surface to which the spices can stick, ‘mash’ the pork with a balloon whisk during frying to break it down into small chunks.
- 500g pork mince
- 1/4 cup dried shitake mushrooms
- 1 (220g) can of bamboo shoots
- 1 (220g) can of water chestnuts
- 1/2 cup fried noodles
- 1/4 cup peanut oil
- 3 tbsp sesame oil
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp ginger powder
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 sprigs spring onion, chopped finely
- 1 iceberg lettuce, leaves cut into 10 ‘cups’
- sesame seeds and chopped spring onions to serve
Soak shitake mushrooms in 1/4 cup boiling water. Roughly chop bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and spring onions, mince garlic. Mix peanut oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce in a jug.
Heat sesame oil in a wok until very hot and add pork mince, broken into large chunks. Using a whisk, stir fry and ‘mash’ the pork until half-browned.
Add garlic, spring onions, half of the oil and soy sauce mixture and continue mashing until all pork granules are the size of green peas, or smaller. Add mushrooms including half of the soaking water, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and the rest of the oil mixture. Stir fry for 5 minutes, before adding fried noodles. Mix well to combine.
To prepare the cups, core out the lettuce and peel leaves off carefully. Trim to size using kitchen scissors.
If you are concerned about the amount of oil used in this recipe, place the finished mince mixture in a large sieve over a bowl and let the oil drain away. Serve reserved oil in a little bowl as an optional “dressing” as it will have retained many of the flavours.
Top each cup with mince, a generous helping of chopped spring onions and sesame seeds.
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February 18th, 2011 → 3:47 pm
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