Vegan Sang Choy Bow (生菜包)

Prep Time: 25m | Cook Time: 15m | Servings: 4

Ingredients

Filling

• 3 cups dried textured vegetable protein (TVP) (300g)
• 3 cups boiling water (for soaking TVP)
• 1 tbsp vegetable stock/broth powder
• 5 medium dried shiitake mushrooms (optional) (10g)
• 9 small white mushrooms (115g)
• 230g can water chestnuts
• 1 medium sized carrot
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 small single bunch of coriander (optional)
• 2 large stalks of spring onion (1/2 cup when chopped)
• Small thumb of ginger
• 2 very loosely packed cups raw bean sprouts (100g)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce to make it gluten-free)
• 1/4 cup vegetarian oyster sauce (sub 1 tbsp gluten-free kecap manis -sweet soy sauce- to make it gluten-free)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp oil

Lettuce Cups

• 1-2 heads of iceberg lettuce (1 for 2 people, 2 for 3-4 people)

Optional Toppings

• Sweet chilli sauce
• Roasted peanuts, crushed
• Chilli
• Coriander
• Spring onions
• Cooked rice vermicelli noodles (recommend banh hoi noodle sheets if you can find them!)
• Crispy shallots

Instructions

Soak Mushrooms: 30 minutes to half an hour before starting, soak the shiitake mushrooms in boiling water, using a plate to submerge them.

Soak and Prep TVP: Add TVP to a heatproof bowl with 3 cups of boiling water and vegetable broth powder. Stir and leave to rehydrate for 5-10 minutes.

Chop Vegetables: Dice the carrot, mushrooms, rehydrated shiitake, and water chestnuts. Mince the garlic and ginger. Chop the coriander, separating the stems from the leaves (reserve leaves for topping). Chop the spring onions and rinse the bean sprouts. Wash and remove leaves from iceberg lettuce for cups.

Cooking:

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large non-stick frypan. Add the mushrooms and carrot, cooking for 2-3 minutes until mushrooms begin to colour.

Add garlic and ginger and cook for another minute.

Add rehydrated TVP, soy sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce, and black pepper. Cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add spring onions, water chestnuts, and coriander stems. Cook for another 2 minutes.

Taste the mixture and adjust seasoning if needed—keep the salt level light, as you'll be eating a lot at once. If it's too dry, add a splash of water.

Stir in bean sprouts, cooking them to your liking. For crunchy sprouts, stir in while the heat is off; for fully cooked sprouts, continue cooking until tender.

Transfer the mixture to a large plate for serving, alongside lettuce cups, sweet chilli sauce, and optional toppings like peanuts, chilli, coriander, spring onions, and noodles.