Lettuce is a common vegetable in China. We can eat lettuce raw or cook it and eat it. After washing the lettuce, adding lettuce to burgers or sandwiches is a common practice in China, or wrapping lettuce leaves around grilled meat. Today we will make a lettuce side dish with a unique taste: Oyster Sauce Lettuce. This recipe is so simple that you can make it in very little time, and serve it with your main course.
starch water1:1 corn starch and water, mixed thoroughly
½ to 1tspdark soy sauce(3-5 ml, optional for darker sauce)
Instructions
Tear the leaves of the lettuce and wash them clean.
2 heads romaine lettuce
Chop the peppers.
20 g mild red pepper
Add water to a pot, bring to a boil and blanch the lettuce for 1 minute.
Then drain the lettuce and set aside on a plate.
Add 10 ml (2 tsp) cooking oil to the wok or saucepan, then add 100 ml water (3.5 oz), oyster sauce, and soy sauce. Test the flavor before adding salt. Stir to combine.
½ tsp salt, 3 tsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp light soy sauce, 3 tsp cooking oil, 3.5 oz water, ½ to 1 tsp dark soy sauce
Next, add the chili peppers. Bring the mixture to a boil. Slowly add starch water, a little at a time, to thicken. Stir quickly to thicken the sauce. Do not thicken too much, or it will become like a thick mucus instead of a sauce. Finally, add the remaining 5 ml (1 tsp) of oil and stir well.
20 g mild red pepper, starch water
Pour the sauce over the lettuce and finish.
Notes
If you prefer darker oyster sauce lettuce, you can add 3-5ml of dark soy sauce to darken the sauce, before adding salt. Soy sauce is salty, so test the flavor! If the taste is suitable there is no need to add salt.Image credit: Chen Jing for My Chinese Home Kitchen, 2022(Add dark soy sauce for a darker sauce)Do not turn the soup into a paste of "thick snot". You can add starch water in small quantities and many times, and determine the starch water according to its viscosity. Don't forget to stir well every time.The goal is to create a sauce that evenly coats the surface of the lettuce, not a thick gravy. If the sauce is watery, it will run off. If it is thick, it will form clumps and have a mucus-like texture.
