Kitchen Ninja: How to core a lettuce in 3 seconds flat (and a recipe for San Choy Bow)

San Choy Bow is a FFF favourite for a quick mid-week meal. This technique for coring your iceberg lettuce will make it even quicker to get this healthy ‘fast’ food on the table.

San Choy Bow
Serves 4

• 1 iceberg lettuce
• 2 tbs oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1tbs corn flour
• 1/2 small red chilli,finely sliced
• 1 egg,beaten
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 8 shiitake mushroom, diced*
• 2 clove garlic, finely sliced
• 1 x 2cm ginger, julienne
• 400gm lean pork mince
• 6 water chestnuts
• 50gm dried rice noodles,soaked in hot water then roughly chopped.
• 2.5 tbs hoisin sauce
• 4 spring onions finely sliced

Discard outer leaves, then core and carefully cut whole leaves from lettuce head, trimming them to form cups.

In a bowl mix oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, corn flour, chilli and egg and set aside.

Heat oil in a large fry pan over high heat.
 Add mushroom, garlic and ginger and cook stirring for 1 min.
 Add pork mince stirring to break up any clumps for 8-10 min or until brown and cooked. Drain off excess liquid.

Return to pan then add water chestnuts and noodles and cook 4 min. Stir oyster sauce mixture then add to pan and cook 10min until thickened. Allow to cool a little.

To serve: place lettuce cups on serving plate and divide meat between them. Drizzle a little hoisin sauce over meat and sprinkle with spring onions.

* If using dried shitake mushrooms, you’ll need to prep them: cut the mushroom cap in half and soak in hot water for at least 10 mins. Then rinse to remove any grit, and squeeze out excess water.

Recipe via The CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet