Lettuce cups with minced chicken and water chestnut
Chicken, water chestnut and shiitake chopped small and quickly stir-fried, then spooned into crisp lettuce cups — sweet, crunchy, light on oil and cooling.
- 30 min
- Serves 2
- Stir-fry
- Easy
Why it suits you: Damp-heat types have oily skin and a bitter taste and are prone to spots, and Bailu's days are still hot, so damp heat lingers. Water chestnut clears heat, resolves phlegm and generates fluids, lettuce clears heat and drains water, and lean chicken breast nourishes without heaviness. Quickly stir-fried and wrapped in crisp lettuce, it cools without upsetting the stomach.
Method
Prep 20 min · Cook 10 min- 1Chop the chicken into small dice and mix with the soy sauce and cornflour; leave for 10 minutes. Soak the shiitake until soft, then finely dice with the peeled water chestnuts and carrot.
- 2Separate the lettuce leaves, trim into cup shapes and soak in cold boiled water for 10 minutes until crisp, then drain.
- 3Heat the oil, fry the ginger and chopped garlic until fragrant, then stir-fry the chicken until it changes colour. Add the shiitake, carrot and water chestnut and stir-fry for 3 minutes.
- 4Toss in the spring onion and serve, wrapping spoonfuls of the filling in the lettuce cups, with brown rice on the side.
Cautions
- Rinse each lettuce leaf well and soak in cold boiled water; peel the water chestnuts and cook them through rather than eating them raw.
Chef's tips
- Dicing the chicken by hand gives more bite than mince; trimming the leaves into cups makes them easier to fill, and the cold soak keeps them crisp.
The TCM view
Water chestnut is sweet and cold, entering the lungs and stomach, clearing heat, resolving phlegm and generating fluids. Lettuce is sweet and cool and promotes urination; chicken is sweet and warm, boosting qi, and lean breast keeps it light; shiitake strengthens the spleen; carrot aids digestion. Together they clear heat and drain damp without being too cold.
