Name: San choy bau with cellophane noodles
Yield: Makes eight
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 1 tsp cornflour, mixed with 1 tsp water; ½ tsp sesame oil; 8 perfect lettuce leaves, washed and dried; 1 tsp sugar; ½ tsp salt; pinch of white pepper; 1 tbsp dark soy sauce; 1 tbsp hoisin sauce; 1 tbsp shaohsing rice wine, or dry sherry; 2 tbsp chicken stock; 50 g (2 oz) bean thread vermicelli; 2 fresh quails; 6 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked; 2 slices ginger, finely chopped; 3 tbsp peanut oil; 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped; 200 g (7 oz) bamboo shoots, finely chopped; 150 g (5 oz) minced pork or chicken; 6 water chestnuts, finely chopped; 1 slice leg ham, diced

Preparation info

Makes
eight

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Noodle

By Terry Durack

Published 2002

About

With its minced meat, water chestnuts, mushrooms and bamboo shoots inside a crisp, fresh lettuce leaf, san choy bau manages to roll up all the principles of Chinese cooking in one neat little parcel. A relatively recent Hong Kong invention, it is universally loved for its multitude of textures, moving from crisp to soft to crunch. So I hope nobody will mind if I add one more texture in the form of noodles.