San Choy Bow
All hail san choy bow, king of fresh and easy feasts. starr in And top-notch filling s starring And thanks to Kirsten Jenkins’ classic Asian flflavours, these lettuce (or cabbage or radicchio) cup winners will reign supreme at the dinner table.
The Asian classic reigns supreme with top-notch updates.
“THERE’S DEFINITELY A KICK TO THIS CHICKEN AND EGGPLANT FILLING! THE CABBAGE LEAVES ARE A NICE VARIATION TO LETTUCE, AND THE CASHEWS ADD CRUNCH.” @kirstenljenkins
BLACK BEAN CHICKEN & BOEGGPLANTEGGPLANTSANCHOYBOW SERVES 4-6
1/4 cup (60ml) rice bran oil
1 (335g) eggplant, cut into 3cm pieces 500g chicken thigh fifillets, chopped
4 long green shallots, trimmed, chopped
into 5cm lengths
1 bunch snake beans, trimmed, chopped
into 5cm lengths
1/4 cup (60ml) Chinese spicy black
bean sauce
8 small inner savoy cabbage leaves
1 cup coriander leaves
1/4 cup salted cashews, chopped Kecap manis and sambal oelek, to serve
(optional)
Heat oil in a large wok or non-stick frypan over medium-high heat. Add the eggplant and cook, stirring occasionally for 10-12 minutes until golden and cooked through. Remove eggplant from the pan and increase heat to high. Add the chicken, long green shallot and snake bean, and cook for 8-10 minutes until browned. Return eggplant to the pan and add the black bean sauce. Carefully stir to coat and cook until the eggplant is heated through.
Place chicken and eggplant mixure in cabbage leaves and top with coriander leaves and cashews. Serve with kecap manis and sambal oelek, if using.
VEGETABLE-PACKED SAN CHOY BOW WITH VERMICELLI NOODLES SERVES 4-6
1 tbs sesame oil
4 long green shallots, white part fifinely
chopped, green part thinly sliced 3 garlic cloves, fifinely chopped 3cm (15g) piece ginger, fifinely grated 2 (135g) celery stalks, fifinely chopped 100g shiitake mushrooms, trimmed,
fifinely chopped
400g pork mince, or 400g fifirm tofu,
crumbled
1 carrot, peeled and shredded 230g can water chestnuts, drained,
chopped 100g green beans, trimmed, thinly sliced 2 tbs Chinese rice wine
1/ 3 cup (80ml) oyster sauce
2 tbs soy sauce
100g vermicelli noodles, soaked according to packet instructions, drained
12 iceberg lettuce leaves, trimmed
Heat oil in a large wok or non-stick frypan over high heat, add the white part of long green shallot, garlic, ginger, celery and mushroom, and cook for 3-4 minutes until softened. Add pork mince or tofu and cook for a further 4 minutes or until browned.
Add the carrot, water chestnut, green bean, rice wine, oyster sauce and soy sauce, and cook for a further 3 minutes or until the sauce is reduced. Stir through the noodles and remove from the heat.
Spoon the mince mixture into lettuce cups and top with the green part of the long green shallot to serve.
MISO SALMON AND PICKLED CUCUMBER SAN CHOY BOW SERVES 4-6
2cm (10g) piece ginger, fifinely grated
1/4 cup (80g) white (shiro) miso paste 2 tbs each mirin, rice vinegar, honey 500g salmon fifillet (skin on), pin-boned 1 cup (200g) sushi rice
1 bunch broccolini, trimmed, chopped 1 cup frozen edamame beans
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbs sesame seeds, plus extra to serve 12 butter lettuce leaves
PICKLED CUCUMBER
1/ 2 cup (125ml) rice vinegar
2 tbs golden caster sugar 1 medium Lebanese cucumber,
sliced thinly widthwise
1 red (Asian) eschalot, peeled,
thinly sliced
For the pickled cucumber, place vinegar and sugar in a non-reactive bowl and stir until sugar dissolves. Add cucumber and eschalot, set aside for 2 hours to pickle.
Meanwhile, place ginger, miso, mirin, rice vinegar and honey in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add salmon, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1-2 hours to marinate.
Place the rice in a large saucepan of boiling water and cook for 18-20 minutes, then add the broccolini and edamame, and cook for a further 1-2 minutes until tender. Drain well. Transfer to a bowl and stir through the sesame oil and seeds. Season with salt, set aside and keep warm.
Preheat oven grill to high. Remove salmon from the fridge and remove from marinade. Place on a baking tray lined with foil and grill for 10-12 minutes for medium, or until cooked to your liking. Flake the salmon and discard the skin.
Spoon rice mixture into the lettuce leaves, top with flflaked salmon and sprinkle with extra sesame seeds. Serve with the pickled cucumber.
PRAWN, KIMCHI & CHILLI FRIED RICE SAN CHOY BOW SERVES 4-6
1 cup coriander leaves, plus extra to serve Juice of 1 lime
2 tbs rice vinegar
1 tsp caster sugar
1/4 cup (35g) salted peanuts, chopped 1 tbs rice bran oil
3 (90g) lap cheong (Chinese sausage –
from Asian food shops), thinly sliced 3 garlic cloves, fifinely chopped
3cm (15g) piece ginger, fifinely grated 16 (530g) medium green prawns, peeled,
deveined, halved
2 tbs chilli bean paste (chilli paste with
soybean oil – from Asian food shops) 500g cooked brown rice
1 cup (190g) chopped kimchi
12 butter lettuce leaves
Place the coriander, lime juice, rice vinegar and sugar in a small food processor and whiz until the coriander is fifinely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and stir through the chopped peanuts. Set aside.
Place the oil and Chinese sausage in a large non-stick pan or wok over medium-high heat, and cook for 3 minutes or until browned. Add the garlic, ginger and prawn and cook for a further 2 minutes or until prawn changes colour. Add the chilli bean paste and cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Add the rice and kimchi and cook, stirring, for 3- 4 minutes until the rice is heated through.
Place the rice mixture in the lettuce leaves and top with coriander and peanut relish to serve.
DUCK, ORANGE AND STAR ANISE SAN CHOY BOW SERVES 4-6
1/4 cup (60ml) rice bran oil
10 cm piece (50g) ginger, peeled and
thinly sliced into matchsticks 400g duck breast, fat removed and
fifinely chopped
300g pork mince
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 star anise
1/ 3 cup (80ml) Chinese rice wine
(shaohsing) 2 tbs soy sauce
1/4 hone cupcup(90g)honey
2 cups (500ml) pulp-free orange
juice
4 long green shallots, trimmed,
chopped into 5cm lengths 12 small radicchio leaves 100g snow peas, fifinely shredded 1 (120g) Lebanese cucumber,
shredded
1 carrot, peeled and fifinely
shredded
1 cup mint leaves
Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. In batches, add the ginger and cook for
1-2 minutes until golden and crisp. Drain on paper towel and set aside. Reserve oil.
Using your hands, combine the duck meat and the pork mince in a bowl until it becomes sticky and is well combined.
Heat 1 tbs of the ginger oil in a large non-stick frypan over high heat, add the duck mixture, and cook for 3-4 minutes until cooked through. Remove from the heat. Wipe out the pan and return to the heat.
Add the garlic, star anise, rice wine, soy sauce, honey, orange juice and half the long green shallot to the pan. Bring to the boil and cook for 12-15 minutes until the sauce is reduced and thickened. Return the duck mixture to the pan with the remaining long green shallot and cook for a further 1-2 minutes until the meat is heated through.
Place the duck in the radicchio leaves and top with the snow peas, cucumber, carrot, mint leaves and the crispy ginger to serve.