Turkey San Choy Bow

Turkey San Choy Bow

Turkey san choy bow (also known as sang choy bau and sung choi bao) is a twist on the traditional Asian san choy bow. This recipe is a classic Chinese entree of lettuce wraps with a meat (usually chicken mince) and vegetable (usually mushroom) filling. ‘Sang choy’ translates to iceberg lettuce, so this is usually the cup that holds the goodies! While ‘bow’ means wrapped in, hence ‘wrapped in lettuce’. The twist is in the use of turkey mince, which is not a meat you’ll find on a Chinese menu. Because the recipe has such lovely spices and sauces, the turkey is perfect for absorbing all those flavours, giving a wonderful burst of infused meat without the fat that can accompany pork or chicken. So while it’s still super tasty, it’s also low fat and low carb!

I like to think of san choy bow as the asian taco, but it’s nowhere near as filling as it doesn’t have all the grains fo the corn taco. It’s perfect as a light entree, but equally can be great for a dinner meal just by eating more!

And seriously guys this recipe couldn’t be any easier. In fact I’d put it as an ‘easy’ recipe category without a doubt. So you get all the wonderful taste of China in a really light but filling mixture of meat and vegetables. And if you’re vegan or vegetarian, then super easily you can swap out the meat filling with tofu or just have it with the vegetables on their own.

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Turkey San Choy Bow

Rating: 3.0/5

( 2 voted )

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 15 Cooking Time: 10 10 Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

• 230 gm can water chestnuts, drained, finely diced
• 2 Tbs peanut oil
• 1 fresh mild red chilli, finely diced
• 1 garlic clove
• 200g turkey mince
• 1/2 small red onion, finely diced
• 1 Tbs gluten free light soy sauce or Tamari
• 1 tsp gluten free oyster sauce or hoisin sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 100g green beans, finely diced
• 1/2 cup fresh bean shoots
• 1/4 cup sliced spring onions
• 1/2 cup coriander roughly chopped
• Iceberg lettuce leaf cups

Instructions

1. Heat peanut oil in a hot wok and stir fry garlic and turkey mince for 1 minute. 
2. Add onions and continue stir-frying for 20 seconds.
3. Pour in soy sauce, oyster/hoisin sauce and sesame oil and stir-fry for 1 minute or until turkey is cooked through. 
4. Toss in the diced water chestnuts, beans, chilli and spring onions and stir fry for another minute.
5. Remove turkey mixture from wok using a slotted spoon to ensure you leave any juice in the wok. If yo keep the juices, when you try to eat it you’ll have juices running down your arms ;-)
6. Once off the heat toss the mixture with the coriander and bean shoots.
7. Serve in a bowl set on a large platter, garnished with coriander and accompany with lettuce cups. 
8. To eat, simply spoon turkey mixture into lettuce cups, roll up to enclose the filling and eat with your hands!

Notes

• Replace turkey with chicken, beef or pork for different flavour
• Make a vegan version and use minced mushrooms instead of meat