Mushroom San Choy Bao

This recipe came about because I was having a girls night and I offered to bring some appetizers, so I decided to make san choy bao (obvs this isn’t a traditional take). I mean who doesn’t love a lettuce cup with a punchy filling? One of our friends (Hedda) is vego, so I made one mushroom filling and one lemongrass chicken filling. This was such a hit that I’ve been asked for the recipe multiple times. So here it is!

You could easily serve it without the rice but I think the rice is a nice contract to the intensely flavoured mushroom. Also, the fresh toppings are key, don’t skip on them. Use what ever you can find, one kind of herb or four, it’s totally up to you. The fresh herbs and chilli are the thing that really make this sing.

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Mushroom San Choy Bao

Yield: 4-6

Ingredients

Filling

• 1 large onion, peeled, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled, roughly chopped
• 800g mushrooms, finely chopped
• 3 large carrots, grated
• 2 tins water chestnuts (they usually come in tins of 227g), drained and finely chopped
• ¼ cup neutral oil

Sauce

• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 ½ teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoon Chinese five spice

To Serve

• 1-2 cups plain cooked jasmine rice (optional)
• 20 small lettuce cups, washed and dried
• ¼ cup peanuts, roasted and roughly chopped
• ¼ cup fresh chilli, thinly sliced
• 1 cup fresh herbs, could be coriander, Thai basil, mint or Vietnamese mint (one type or a mix of what you can find)

Instructions

1. Heat a pan over medium heat, add the oil. Once the oil has heated up add the chopped onion and garlic. Sautee until softened but no colour has developed.
2. Once the onions are soft, add the mushrooms to the pan and turn the heat up to high. Cook until the moisture comes out of the mushrooms and they begin to brown.
3. Add the carrots to the pan and do the same again. Cook everything until all the moisture has been released and evaporated from the vegetables and they are starting to brown and caramelize.
4. Add the chopped water chestnuts and all the ingredients for the sauce. Cook and stir until all the moisture has disappeared and the mixture has dried and started to caramelize again.
5. Serve by spooning some rice (if using) into the lettuce cups, topped with the mushroom mixture and then a scattering of peanuts, herbs and chillis.