San Choy Bow

San choy bow is pork mince cooked with a handful of aromatics and finished with a slightly sweet, savoury sauce, then spooned into cold lettuce cups so you get a hot, savoury filling against a cold, crunchy wrapper. That contrast is most of the appeal, so it's worth keeping the lettuce properly chilled right up until serving.

Water chestnuts go in right at the end rather than with everything else. They're already cooked and only need enough time in the pan to warm through, any longer and they lose the crunch that's the whole point of including them. The same goes for the final splash of sesame oil, stirred through off the heat so it stays fragrant instead of cooking off.

Iceberg lettuce is the right choice here over a softer lettuce. Its leaves naturally curl into a cup shape and hold their crunch even once a hot, slightly saucy filling is spooned in, where a leaf like cos would wilt and tear.

This is a fast dinner for a warm night, the kind where you don't want the oven on and you want to eat within half an hour of walking in the door. Make extra filling if you're feeding a crowd, since people tend to come back for a second or third cup once they start building their own.