San Choy Bow: Healthy and Flavorful Chinese Lettuce Wraps Recipe:
One of my favorite Chinese appetizers is Lettuce Wraps, made with meat or poultry and many crunchy and hidden vegetables, served with a tasty, sweet brown sauce and wrapped with fresh Lettuce. Also called San Choy Bowit, it's possibly the most delicious "just happens to be healthy" food item.
San Choy Bow – Chinese Lettuce Wraps
The Chinese term used to refer to Lettuce Wraps is San Choy Bow, which is the way it appears on menus in Chinese restaurants in Sydney. However, the spelling can vary depending on the location, and I'm still unable to get a definitive answer about the correct spelling.
I might not know how to spell it, but you'll love these!
Learn how to create Lettuce Wraps.
Lettuce wraps consist of minced or ground meat, vegetable fillings, and a delicious Chinese sauce that is spooned into cups of Lettuce and then wrapped in a roll to consume.
It boils to sauce if you want to make a delicious Lettuce Wrap. It's more than one tablespoon of soy sauce for an exquisite Lettuce Wrap.
You can make anything into the filling if you make the sauce correctly. This is one of those recipes that is truly great and completely vegetarian. I'd just as quickly enjoy a meat-free version of this recipe as a traditional pork version.
What's in the Lettuce Wrap filling
There aren't any specific rules regarding what can be used in Lettuce Wraps. But the ingredients that I typically see in Chinese eateries are:
1. Pork (chicken as well as turkey make excellent substitutes)
2. Water chestnuts
3. Onion
Then, things become slightly blurred. Other ingredients that I've added to my recipe include:
1 2: Baby corn
2. Shiitake or other types of mushrooms
3: Carrots
The ones that lean more toward "Western" Chinese have various vegetables, including capsicum, regular corn, etc.
Get absolute by using water chestnuts!
If you can find them, I really urge you to use Water Chestnuts. It doesn’t have a strong flavour, but the unique thing about Water chestnuts is the texture.
Even canned, it is crunchy and a bit juicy and it’s a quintessential part of the Chinese Lettuce Wrap experience. ☺️ Nowadays in Australia, they are found in both the Asian section and canned vegetable section of supermarkets (Woolies, Coles etc).
If you can locate them, I strongly recommend trying Water Chestnuts. They don't have a strong taste, but their texture is the most distinctive aspect of Water chestnuts.
Even when canned, it's delicious and crunchy and essential to eating the Chinese Lettuce Wrap experience. In modern times, in Australia, they can be found in both the Asian and canned vegetable sections of grocery stores (Woolies, Coles, etc.).
Lettuce wraps make a great simple and quick food that can also be healthy. Chinese restaurants serve it with iceberg lettuce that can break when folded. Use soft Lettuce leaves such as Butter Lettuce or Bib Lettuce (US) to make it more practical.
Enjoy