Asian Lettuce Cups (San Choy Bow)

This Asian Lettuce Cups (San Choy Bow) are such an easy to make, healthy dish with lots of fresh Asian flavours. Children also love putting it together so serve it all on a platter buffet style and let them choose a lettuce cup, fill and roll it themselves (to suit their taste). I’ve even had children over who generally refuse to eat salad, happily eat this, lettuce and all!

Best of all it has a super short prep time and the total time it takes to make this is less than 30 minutes. Try it for lunch or dinner, it’s a firm favourite in our household.

Health benefits

This gluten-free recipe is loaded with lean protein, fresh vegetables, and herbs, offering a fibre rich, nutritious and satisfying meal. Lettuce cups are also a great way to keep things light while still feeling full and nourished. The garlic, ginger and shiitake are great for immune support. I also use tamari and fish sauce for flavour instead of the additive and high sugar sauces like hoisin sauce or oyster sauce.

Ingredients

Key ingredients include turkey mince or chicken mince (also called ground turkey or ground chicken), fresh ginger, garlic, tamari, lime juice, and a bunch of fragrant herbs like mint and coriander (cilantro). You can also toss in some mushrooms for extra texture (I love shiitake mushrooms), and don’t forget the crunchy cashews (or peanuts or even toasted sesame seeds) to top it all off.

How to make Asian Lettuce Cups (San Choy Bow)

Start by dry roasting the cashews and setting them aside. Then sauté the onion, ginger, and cloves garlic in coconut oil (or sesame oil) before stir-frying the mince on a high heat until cooked. Add your sauces and seasonings, stir through the fresh herbs, and you’re ready to serve. Just pile the mince and veggies into a crisp lettuce leaf (iceberg lettuce is great for these), top with cashews, wrap, and enjoy.

Serving suggestions and how to store

Serve with lettuce cups and an array of colourful veggies like julienned carrots and capsicum. If you’re short on lettuce or have picky eaters, this mince mixture also works great over rice or quinoa. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days or frozen for later use. Simply reheat the mince in a pan before serving.

Vary this to suit your dietary needs

For a vegetarian option, swap the mince for quinoa or firm tofu and skip the fish sauce. Nut-free? Use toasted sesame or sunflower seeds instead of cashews. You can also adapt for soy-free, seafood-free, and coconut-free diets, and for those who prefer their meal without lettuce, serve it over rice or quinoa. Or for pork lettuce cups, replace the mince with pork mince. Its a super versatile recipe. 

Asian Lettuce Cups

Prep 15 minutes minutes

Cook 10 minutes minutes

Total 25 minutes minutes

Serves: 4

These Asian Lettuce Cups (San Choy Bow) are the perfect light and flavorful meal that’s fun to eat and easy to make. Loaded with tender mince, fresh veggies, and crunchy cashews, this dish is great for busy weeknights or entertaining. Plus, the whole family can customise their own cups, making it a fun, hands-on meal!

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Ingredients

• 1 tbsp coconut oil - or sesame oil
• 1 red onion/s -peeled, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 tsp ginger root -peeled and finely grated
• 1 clove/s garlic -peeled and finely chopped
• 500 g turkey or chicken mince
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• 1 tbsp tamari -or coconut aminos
• 1 lime/s -juiced
• ¼ bunch/s Vietnamese or regular mint -leaves picked (or finely chopped for fussy kids) or Thai basil is lovely too
• ¼ bunch/s fresh coriander leaves -leaves picked (or finely chopped for fussy kids)

Optional

• 100 g mushrooms -shiitake or regular, sliced

To serve

• 40 g raw cashew nuts (¼ cup) or peanuts
• 1 Cos lettuce -washed and leaves separated
• 1 carrot/s -peeled and grated or julienned
• 1 red capsicum/s -julienned
• 1 red chilli/s -seeded and diced (optional)

Method

• In a wok or large pan, dry roast the cashew nuts over medium heat and set aside.
• Heat a tablespoon of coconut oil over a low heat.
• Add the onion and ginger and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and mince and stir fry.
• Add optional mushrooms, increase the heat and cook, stirring constantly until the mince is cooked (about 5 minutes).
• Add the fish sauce, sweet chilli and tamari.
• Stir through to coat the mince well, then turn off the heat.
• Stir in the lime juice and fresh herbs.
• Place the wok or pan on the table to self-serve.
• Break the leaves away from your lettuce and arrange on a plate.
• Place the grated/ julienne vegetables / chilli/ cashews on the table to self serve.

Serve

• To serve simply place the mince / veggies. cashews into the lettuce cup, fold it in and enjoy.

Make ahead

• You can make the mince part ahead and re-heat by stir-frying in a wok or pan with a splash of broth or stock. Keep the cashews aside until ready to serve.

Store

• Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
• The mince mixture can be frozen in an airtight container.

Variations

Vegetarian

Substitute the mince with quinoa or firm tofu (crumbled) and the fish sauce with a teaspoon of sea salt. 

Pork Lettuce Cups

Replace the turkey or chicken mince for pork mince.

Nut-free

Swap the cashews for toasted sesame or sunflower seeds.

Seafood-free

Swap the fish sauce for a good pinch of sea salt.

Soy-free

Swap the tamari for liquid or coconut aminos.

Onion and garlic-free

Swap them for a 3-4cm pieces of ginger, finely grated.

Coconut-free

Replace the coconut oil with olive oil or butter.

For kids (or adults) who just won’t eat lettuce

Serve the mince mix on rice or quinoa.

Make it go further

I often have a little left over mince from this meal. So I use it to make another meal the next day. These are ways I stretch it:

• Mix through some shredded cabbage or lettuce, add more lime juice and use it as a filling for fresh spring rolls (my kids favourite lunch).
• Stir through cooked quinoa and make more lettuce cups.
• Mix it through salad leaves, more fresh herbs, cabbage and the juice of a lime to make an Asian inspired salad.

Time saving tip

I always prepare all of my ingredients in advance and just throw this together at the last minute as the cooking time is very minimal. I also have a julienne peeler (from a kitchen appliance shop), which I love as it juliennes perfectly and quickly.

If you are after a safe, non-stick wok to cook this in, I can't recommend highly enough this wok from Solidteknics. It is my most used pan and cooks this beautifully. 

 

 

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Course: Main Course

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