Lettuce Wraps (Sang Choi Bao)

Why people make this dish

Nourilo once enjoyed a memorable lettuce wrap at a well-known restaurant — scallops, chicken and pine nuts in a special sauce, folded into a lettuce leaf, wonderfully savory. Back home he recreated it with an even richer filling: besides scallops, he added diced reconstituted sea cucumber, winter bamboo shoot, organic enoki and pine nuts. The result is fresh, crisp and full of flavor — a fun dish to assemble at the table.

Method

1. Dice all the filling ingredients. Blanch the scallops and the bamboo shoot.
2. Fry the pine nuts in oil until golden; drain and set aside.
3. Heat oil and fry the minced shallot and ginger until fragrant; add the chicken and stir-fry, then add sea cucumber, bamboo shoot and enoki in turn.
4. Add the scallops, splash in the cooking wine, season, and finally scatter in the pine nuts. Plate up and serve with washed, drained lettuce leaves for wrapping.

Nourilo’s Tips

The filling is flexible — use more or fewer ingredients as you like; the key is that it be fragrant. Instead of scallops, dried oysters or diced shiitake also make a very tasty filling.