The first thing I made was a simple, but very tasty, san choy bau using the iceberg lettuce and spring onions. A perfect Friday night dinner when all you want after work is something that you can whip up in no time. I very rarely buy iceberg lettuce, favouring mixed leaves or baby cos, even though I do love that crispy crunch you get from freshly washed leaves. Whenever I do have iceberg lettuce, it really makes me think of wrapping up a flavoursome mince filling and enjoying a light summer meal. My version of san choy bau really was easy and I cooked it up in the time it took my husband to read the kids their bed time stories and put them to sleep!
When you cook up the filling, make sure you evaporate as much of the sauces as possible. You don't want too much liquid or it will leak out all over the place when you're eating! It's still best to have a napkin on hand to catch all those juices. Alter the flavours to suit your taste, add some chilli if you like. It may not be authentic, but damn it tastes good.
San Choy Bau
500g pork mince
3 mushrooms, diced
4 spring onions, washed, trimmed and cut into thin rounds
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 stalk of lemongrass, sliced into rounds, white part only
1 1/2 Tbs hoisin sauce
A few drops of sesame oil
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp oyster sauce
A handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped
Iceberg lettuce leaves, torn into cups
Heat a wok on moderate heat and stir fry the mince, garlic, ginger, lemongrass and mushrooms until cooked and the meat and mushrooms release their juices.
Stir in the hoisin sauce, oyster sauce and fish sauce and reduce the juices until the mixture is reasonably dry.
Stir through the few drops of sesame oil, or to taste.
At the last minute, stir through the mint and spring onions, keeping them fresh.
Serve the mince mixture in lettuce cups.
Over summer, when we have lots of tomatoes and parsley in the garden, I love to make big bowls of tabouli. I love this as a meal in itself, served with some fresh Turkish bread and a dollop of natural yoghurt. It's also great as a salad to take to BBQ's or to just have with grilled chicken or fish. We had ours with some simple grilled chicken and a yoghurt, mint and sumac sauce.
As an alternative to the regular style of tabouli, which uses cracked wheat or burghul, I decided to use Quinoa. It's an equally easy grain to use and bulks out the salad much the same way as burghul. Great for those looking to cut out or reduce the wheat products in their diet. Also, being lazy, I had quinoa in the cupboard and couldn't be bothered heading out to the shops again to buy some burghul!
Tabouli really does need the freshest vegetables and herbs to make it shine. Make sure your tomatoes are red and full of flavour and the herbs are freshly picked and fragrant. I also added a radish to mine, as I had a bunch from my delivery and thought I'd make it slightly different. Add the lemon juice to your taste and make sure you season well to bring out the flavours of the vegetables.
Quinoa Tabouli
1 cup quinoa
2 vine ripenend tomatoes, diced
1 lebanese cucumber, seeds removed and diced
3 spring onions, washed, trimmed and sliced into thin rounds
1 French radish, finely chopped
A bunch of parsley, chopped
A large handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sumac
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook quinoa in a saucepan of boiling water until tender, approx 10 minutes. Rinse, drain and allow to cool until room temperature.
Combine tomato, cucumber, spring onion, radish, parsley, mint and quinoa in a bowl. Stir gently to combine.
Season to taste with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the sumac.
Pour over the lemon juice and oil to make a dressing. You want enough to make the salad moist, but not too wet.
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