Healthy Vegetarian Sang Choi Bau
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Makes 4-6 serves
-
2 tablespoons oil
-
1 medium onion, diced
-
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, diced
-
2 cloves garlic, diced
-
1 cup red lentils, rinsed until water runs clear (about 5-6 times)
-
230g/8 oz. tin of water chestnuts, diced
-
1 medium sized carrot, diced
-
6 whole shiitake mushrooms, diced (I use dried ones and rehydrate them in some boiled water for 15 minutes)
-
1 1/4 cups vegetable stock (I used the soaking water for the shiitakes too)
-
5 stalks of green onions
-
2 tablespoons Shaoxing cooking wine or sherry
-
2 tablespoons soy sauce (regular or light)
-
2 tablespoons oyster sauce or vegetarian version
-
1 tablespoon caster or superfine sugar
-
a few drops of sesame oil
-
some white sesame seeds to garnish
-
Hoi sin sauce to garnish (optional)
-
1 whole iceberg lettuce
Tip: As there is so much dicing, do all of your dicing beforehand and this recipe will be easy! I used my mini food processor on pulse to dice everything.
Step 1 - In a large saucepan on medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the onion, ginger and garlic and saute until fragrant and translucent-a few minutes should do. Add the lentils, water chestnuts, carrot, shiitake mushrooms and stock and simmer with lid on for 10 minutes stirring to prevent the lentils from sticking at the bottom. Add the green onions in the last 5 minutes.
Step 2 - Add the cooking wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce and caster sugar and stir to combine and taste. Sprinkle a few drops of sesame oil to taste and set aside.
Step 3 - Take the whole ice berg lettuce and remove any extra leaves on the outside. Remove the core and run cold water down the centre of the lettuce and allow to sit for a minute. The water gently separates the leaves. Peel off lettuce leaves one at a time and trim if desired. Serve the mixture inside the lettuce leaves with hoi sin sauce and some white sesame seeds.