One of my friends is from Texas. He is convinced that sang choi bau is the perfect food because you could live on it alone, if you had to. He does have a point. The combination of richly sauced meat with crunchy nuts wrapped in a crisp, refreshing lettuce-leaf parcel is hard to beat.
Super Simple Sang Choi Bau
Ingredients
- 450 g ground (minced) beef
- 1 large handful roast cashews or macadamias
- 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes or fresh chilli peppers
- 4 tablespoons oyster sauce or 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 8 leaves iceberg lettuce
Instructions
- Heat a few tablespoons olive oil in a large frying pan.
- Cook beef stirring frequently, until well browned and cooked through.
- Add chilli and oyster sauce (or soy) and 2 tablespoons water. Cook until everything is hot. Add cashews and macadamias.
- Taste and season.
- Serve hot beef in a bowl with lettuce leaves for wrapping on the side.
Variations
different meat – pork is commonly used but you could also make your sang choi bau form minced chicken or turkey.
vegan/vegetarian – replace the beef with canned or home cooked lentils or black beans and crumbled tofu and use a vegetarian ‘oyster’ sauce or hoisin sauce or soy sauce.
fish-free / no oyster sauce? – use a vegetarian ‘oyster’ sauce, hoisin sauce or sweet soy sauce. Or just good old soy sauce or coconut aminos.
budget – replace some or all of the meat with canned lentils.
carb lovers – serve with steamed rice, fried rice or cooked rice noodles on the side.
more veg – toss in cooked mushrooms and/or red bell peppers (capsicum).
Waste Avoidance Strategy
minced (ground) beef – freeze.
nuts / dried chilli flakes / oyster sauce – keep in the pantry.
iceberg lettuce – will keep in the fridge for a few weeks in a plastic bag. Otherwise use for another meal as it’s not great once frozen.
Prep Ahead Strategy
Just cook as per the recipe but keep the lettuce separately. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks or can be frozen. To serve, warm in a pan with a little oil then serve with lettuce.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
Made a half quantity per recipe with pork mince and it did two ladies for lunch and I popped leftovers into two separate mushrooms to bake for two more delicious meals. A great recipe thanks Jules will be making again soon
Love the sound of those mushrooms Lindy 🙂
Dark ground chicken, sautéed fresh green beans, fresh diced tomato, red leaf lettuce, romaine, cashews roasted, your chilli oil, your vinaigrette, my home grown parsleys & oregano. C’est magnifique ❤️?
Fantastic Dawn! Lovely to hear from you 🙂
Yum! I added chopped greens from kohlrabi stems and cauliflower leaves at the end. Toasted cashews were so yummy, too. I never would have thought to try ground meat this way. Thanks!
Fantastic Murphy 🙂
I made this with crumbled tofu,chopped mushrooms, tamari and a spoonful of Sambal for a spicy punch. I didn’t have lettuce at the end of the week so I ate it ‘bowl style’ over riced cauliflower with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil. Really good. I’m thinking some sauteed bok choy next time I make it.
Sounds delicious Linda! And yes to bok choy 🙂
I had this with kidney beans and a bit of pre-cooked mushroom instead of the mince (and could have added more of the latter), a combination of oyster and hoisin sauce, and brown rice instead of the lettuce, because I’ve always found the latter wildly impractical. It was tasty enough, but a bit monotonous after a while. OK.
Sounds like you needed the lettuce for crunch and to break the monotony Mark 🙂
I was thinking of you yesterday – got a large jar of roasted peppers from my favourite IGA. Excited about the possibilities!
I broke the monotony of my last attempt, starting by frying some mushrooms with garlic. Calling to mind an offhand comment of yours about a classic taste combination being garlic, chilli and pepper (or was one of those supposed to be ginger? Never mind), I then lightly fried some red capsicum strips with a bit of chilli, then reduced the soy sauce into a tin of lentils which I generously peppered. I had the three in a bowl over a bed of green peas. Good.
The holy trinity Mark – garlic, ginger and chilli!
Hi Jules, I made the Super Simple Sang Choi Bau tonight. As we had visitors, I added more vegetables- onions, capsicums and mushrooms. It was simple to cook and quite nice in the crisp lettuce leaves. The general vote was more soy sauce and more chilli flakes. I served it with sweet potato chips and home grown corn on the cob, so blew the carb budget tonight. I would make this again, thanks Jules.
Fantastic Heather! Did you serve the soy sauce and chilli at the table? It’s a good way for everyone to adapt to their own tastes 🙂
So my Irishman said this was the best dinner he’s had in ages. We had it as per the recipe with soy sauce and both cashews and macadamias. So happy
To do this challenge. 15 minute dinners are the best. Had forgotten how fresh and crunchy iceberg lettuce can be. Definitely keen to try a Mexican version with chipotle chillies in adobo sauce and lime juice. And maybe avocado.
We had this dish tonight with cashews and hoisin sauce. I had mushrooms and romaine on hand so I cooked the mushrooms with the ground beef and served them on the romaine. All three of us loved it and would have it again.
Fantastic Nan! Next time try it with the ice berg lettuce. Romaine is good but the extra crunch of the ice berg is extra special
Meal 3/3 (15 minute Challenge 2021)
Loved this meal. Definitely will be on rotation.
Had no lettuce. Needed to use up bread wraps and rice. So that’s what we had. Family doesn’t do well with chili. So adults used sweet chili sauce on top.
Have now completed the number of meals that I committed to.
So now I might do two extra coz I can. 🙂
You are on fire Bella! Well done.
I’m looking forward to this tonight 🙂
Made this for the first time in years tonight!
Such a fab easy dinner.
Used 3T soy sauce instead of the oyster sauce because I’ve stopped buying oyster sauce due to the sugar. Actually think I prefer the more salty intense umami flavours of simple soy.
Used cashews and sliced green onion (scallions) sprinkled
On top instead of the chilli.
Had intended in serving chilli oil at the table for the adults but decided it was plenty tasty without.
And we are a whole head of cos lettuce with it. And fried rice for my little carb lovers.