Welcome back to school everyone! It’s quite difficult to narrow down a recipe that for me exemplifies the welcoming aspect of coming back to school, but coincidentally enough it also happens to be Chinese New Year! It’s the year of the dragon (which is awesome) but more importantly there also happens to be a great influx in recipes celebrating delicious Chinese food. Growing up, my father and I have always taken great care to make sure that the delicacies that appear around this time of year are present in the house (similar to how king cake only appears around Mardi Gras- only more reason to stock up). So, when coming across this recipe, I felt it was only necessary to share its awesomeness with the world.
Ingredients:
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
2 chicken thighs, skinned, deboned and chopped
2 tbsps. cooking oil
2 cloves garlic
3 dried Chinese mushrooms, chopped
1 whole winter bamboo shoot, diced
10 cooked chestnuts, each cut into 6 pieces
1 tbsp. oyster sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp corn flour
3 tbsps. water
spring onions, chopped
a handful of rice vermicelli
toasted sesame seeds
lettuce
Method:
Season the chicken meat with the light soy sauceand sesame oil. Heat the 2 tbsps. of oil in a wok and stir fry the garlic for 1 minute. Add the chicken meat and stir fry for 2 minutes or until it changes colour. Add the mushrooms, bamboo shoots, chestnuts, oyster sauce and sugar. Stir fry for another 2 minutes. Mix the corn flour with the 3 tbsps. waterand add to the pan while stirring. This will form a thick glaze to moisten and hold the mixture together. When the sauce is absorbed into the mixture, the filling is done.
Heat up some oil in a clean wok. When the oil is very hot, throw in the rice vermicelli. This will instantly puff up. Scoop up the noodles at once and drainon kitchen paper. Toast the sesame seeds on a dry pan until golden.
Chop off the core of the gemlettuce and wash and dry the leaves. Serve the filling warm with the toppings on the side and let everyone make their own san choy bau
Thanks to: