picture from http://www.schwans.comWe take turns in my Bible study group to cook dinner and lead the study. It was my turn to cook tonight, and I was looking forward to it all day. I haven't done any major cooking or photography for the last coupla months, and we know how big I am about both!
Tonight, I decided to go for a healthy option. Lettuce wraps, or lettuce tortillas, are very common in Asian cuisine. For this particular dish, I was inspired by an American-Vietnamese friend living in London, who makes the best banh xeo (Vietnamese crepes wrapped in lettuce leaves, with accompanying dipping sauce called nuoc cham), recently when she served it up for dinner. Lettuce wrap egg fu-yong was one of my favourite dishes growing up, and I decided to try my hand at it tonight, but with London-available ingredients (read: no sharks fin and cheaper crab meat substitutes). Also, I liked the combination of mint leaves and the dipping sauce in Vietnamese lettuce wraps my friend did. So this is a kinda Chinese-Viet-London 'fusion' version.
LETTUCE WRAP EGG FU-YONG
(serves 4-5)
A - Egg mixture
16 eggs
4 tsp vermouth (I use Noilly Prat. Sherry or chinese cooking wine is also fine)
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
white pepper
4 tbsp cornflour (dissolved in 8 tbsp water)
B - Filling
300g pork fillet (parboiled for 20 minutes and sliced thinly) - friend's inspiration
300g prawns (parboiled until pink) - friend's inspiration
16 crabsticks (chopped up) - substitute for crab meat
250g shitake mushrooms (sliced thinly) - substitute for sharks fin
C - Marinade
2 tbsp light soya sauce
sesame oil
D - Garnishing
2 lettuces (leaves peeled off and washed - be careful not to tear the leaves!)*
bean sprouts
mint leaves
Vietnamese dipping sauce
*Note: I use butterhead lettuces, because their leaves have a soft velvety texture that makes the wrap easier to fold. Iceberg or loose leaf lettuces, which are more commonly found, are also ok. But because the leaves are more brittle and tend to break more easily during folding, cut off the hardest part of the stem horizontally. You should still get a nice curved dome-shaped wrapper.
A - Beat eggs and add rest of ingredients, with cornflour mixture last.
B - Fry sliced mushrooms with marinade C.
B/C - Heat saucepan with enough oil to coat. Arrange a selection if ingredients from B/C in saucepan. I usually use 5 slices of pork, 5 prawns, 1/2 a handful of crabstick, 1 tbsp of mushrooms. The trick is to arrange the ingredients in the middle circumference, i.e. not the middle or the edges, so that the omelette folds easily and doesn't fall apart. Then, using a standard sized soup ladle, add one ladle of the egg mixture (A) to the ingredients, turning the saucepan so that the egg coats the entire surface, binding the ingredients together. Cover and cook on medium heat until smoke starts coming out from under the lid (about 3-5 minutes). Fold in half and set aside. Repeat until you finish the ingredients and have a stack of egg fu-yong 'crepes'.
D - To eat, take one lettuce leaf. Put half a egg crepe in, and top with a handful of beansprouts and a few mint leaves. Roll the leaf up with the ingredients inside (like you would a tortilla) and eat with Vietnamese dipping sauce.
I find this a satisfying meal, always coming away feeling filled but light. 3-4 wraps usually equate to a full meal for me. It has the added bonus for being a simple but great conversational piece for a party of people!
P.S. I really should be taking my own pics, I know. My beloved camera has been languishing hanging on a coat rail forever, and my fellow floggers' dedication puts me to shame. Next time, next time.
Tonight, I decided to go for a healthy option. Lettuce wraps, or lettuce tortillas, are very common in Asian cuisine. For this particular dish, I was inspired by an American-Vietnamese friend living in London, who makes the best banh xeo (Vietnamese crepes wrapped in lettuce leaves, with accompanying dipping sauce called nuoc cham), recently when she served it up for dinner. Lettuce wrap egg fu-yong was one of my favourite dishes growing up, and I decided to try my hand at it tonight, but with London-available ingredients (read: no sharks fin and cheaper crab meat substitutes). Also, I liked the combination of mint leaves and the dipping sauce in Vietnamese lettuce wraps my friend did. So this is a kinda Chinese-Viet-London 'fusion' version.
LETTUCE WRAP EGG FU-YONG
(serves 4-5)
A - Egg mixture
16 eggs
4 tsp vermouth (I use Noilly Prat. Sherry or chinese cooking wine is also fine)
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
white pepper
4 tbsp cornflour (dissolved in 8 tbsp water)
B - Filling
300g pork fillet (parboiled for 20 minutes and sliced thinly) - friend's inspiration
300g prawns (parboiled until pink) - friend's inspiration
16 crabsticks (chopped up) - substitute for crab meat
250g shitake mushrooms (sliced thinly) - substitute for sharks fin
C - Marinade
2 tbsp light soya sauce
sesame oil
D - Garnishing
2 lettuces (leaves peeled off and washed - be careful not to tear the leaves!)*
bean sprouts
mint leaves
Vietnamese dipping sauce
*Note: I use butterhead lettuces, because their leaves have a soft velvety texture that makes the wrap easier to fold. Iceberg or loose leaf lettuces, which are more commonly found, are also ok. But because the leaves are more brittle and tend to break more easily during folding, cut off the hardest part of the stem horizontally. You should still get a nice curved dome-shaped wrapper.
A - Beat eggs and add rest of ingredients, with cornflour mixture last.
B - Fry sliced mushrooms with marinade C.
B/C - Heat saucepan with enough oil to coat. Arrange a selection if ingredients from B/C in saucepan. I usually use 5 slices of pork, 5 prawns, 1/2 a handful of crabstick, 1 tbsp of mushrooms. The trick is to arrange the ingredients in the middle circumference, i.e. not the middle or the edges, so that the omelette folds easily and doesn't fall apart. Then, using a standard sized soup ladle, add one ladle of the egg mixture (A) to the ingredients, turning the saucepan so that the egg coats the entire surface, binding the ingredients together. Cover and cook on medium heat until smoke starts coming out from under the lid (about 3-5 minutes). Fold in half and set aside. Repeat until you finish the ingredients and have a stack of egg fu-yong 'crepes'.
D - To eat, take one lettuce leaf. Put half a egg crepe in, and top with a handful of beansprouts and a few mint leaves. Roll the leaf up with the ingredients inside (like you would a tortilla) and eat with Vietnamese dipping sauce.
I find this a satisfying meal, always coming away feeling filled but light. 3-4 wraps usually equate to a full meal for me. It has the added bonus for being a simple but great conversational piece for a party of people!
P.S. I really should be taking my own pics, I know. My beloved camera has been languishing hanging on a coat rail forever, and my fellow floggers' dedication puts me to shame. Next time, next time.
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