This is my version of this popular dish using chicken. It is so quick and easy to prepare but really delicious. It can be used as an entree or main meal. We usually make it for dinner and it is one of my grandsons’s favourite dishes.
Prepare all your ingredients prior to cooking. You can use less water chestnuts if you want, but we love the crunch that they give to the dish. We also include bean sprouts and wombok, because they add a little more vegetables to the dish. You can leave these out, or add others, e.g. finely diced carrot.
If you soak your lettuce leaves in iced water they become lovely and crisp. As you can see I use cos lettuce as I can’t eat iceberg. Make sure you stir the meat whilst cooking to keep breaking it up, you don’t want one large pancake of meat.
Once cooked, transfer to serving bowl and put lettuce leaves on a separate plate so that everyone can help themselves. By using the bean sprouts and wombok our finished dish had a little more liquid than usual, but it wasn’t a problem, it was still great.
I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do in our house. My grandson usually eats at least 5 of these before he realizes he is really full.
Enjoy !!!!!
- 1 large iceberg lettuce (I use cos lettuce)
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 3 spring onions, finely sliced
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 500g chicken mince
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 227g can water chestnuts, drained, chopped
- Handful of bean sprouts
- Small piece of wombok – finely shredded
- 2 tablespoons coriander leaves
- Select lettuce leaves and trim stem if required with scissors.
- Place in a large bowl filled with iced water, this will allow them to become crisp.
- Put hoisin, soy sauce and sesame oil in small bowl.
- Heat oil in pan or wok on high. Stir-fry spring onions and ginger for 1-2 minutes.
- Add chicken mince and cook for about 5 minutes, until colour changes. Stir to break meat into smaller pieces.
- Add hoisin mix together with water chestnuts and continue to stir-fry for another 2 minutes.
- Add bean sprouts and wombok if using, and stir-fry for another 1 minute.
- Transfer to serving bowl, and if liked stir through coriander.
- Alternatively, you can let each person add their own when serving,.
- You can leave out wombok and bean sprouts, and add any other vegetables you like, e.g. diced carrot.