Spicy Pork Mince and Noodles in Crisp Lettuce Cups

Cellophane noodles are also known as Chinese vermicelli, bean threads, bean thread noodles and glass noodles. I wonder why it has so many different names. Amongst these names, I like the name of “cellophane noodles” the most because it represents their translucent appearance after being cooked, with a very appealing effect to my eyes when mixed with other salads or meats.

Noodles are often on our family’s menu, whether they are cooked in soup or stir-fried with beef, chicken or pork. For this month’s international incident is to cook noodles, I’d like to create a deviant one for this special occasion. an unusual dish with some usual ingredients.

I made noodles in crisp lettuce cups, alike San Choi Bao that I posted before, yet adding lots of spices into it. Also by tossing in some water chestnuts, celery and baby sweet corns, the smooth cellophane noodles were mixed into a bed of crunchy vegetables. As I expected, this dish was refreshing, full of spices with many flavours.

Spicy Pork Mince and Noodles in Crisp Lettuce Cups (Printable recipe)

Ingredients:

• 75 gm cellophane noodles
• 375 gm ground pork (pork mince)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 Tbsp minced ginger
• 1 Tbsp ground bean sauce (磨豉醬), available at Asian stores
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 70gm water chestnuts (frozen or canned), chopped
• 35 gm baby sweet corns (fresh or canned), thinly sliced
• 2 spring onions (shallot), finely sliced
• a handful of coriander (cilantro), chopped
• 2 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp lime juice
• sesame oil, to taste
• 1 iceberg lettuce, leaves separated and trimmed into cups
• 1 small red chili (for garnish, optional), seeded and finely chopped

Marinade:

• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 1 Tbsp water
• pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Mix ground pork with marinade well for 15 minutes. Soak cellophane noodles in boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain well and set aside.
2. In a frying pan or wok, heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Saute ginger, garlic and ground bean sauce until aromatic. Add pork and cook for 5 minutes. Stir and separate the pork into smaller pieces if they stick together.
3. Add celery, water chestnuts and baby sweet corns and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes if you’d like crunchy vegetables, or cook longer as desired. But don’t over cook the vegetables. (Note: Water chestnuts can be eaten as raw as fruits. So, you can mix them in after removing from heat if you like.)
4. Remove from heat. Stir in noodles, spring onion and coriander. Season with lime juice, fish sauce and sesame oil. Mix well.
5. To serve, arrange lettuce leaves on plates. Spoon pork and noodles mixture on lettuce cups. Garnish with chopped chilies if desired. Drizzle with chili sauce.

 Other party crews' creations:

• Homemade ban mian with minced pork and mushrooms from Penny's Jeroxie (Addictive & Consuming)
• Ginger scallion & Butter noodles from Mardi's Eat, Live, Travel, Write
• Summer ‘Noodles’ with yellow and green zuchinni with cool basil oil tomato sauce from Trix's Tasty Trix
• Vermicilli Biryani with Tahini from Shirley's Enriching your kid
• Homemade Soba Noodles from Natasha's 5 Star Foodie
• Handpulled noodles at home from Anges's Off the spork
• Coconut noodles with honey glazed pork belly from Cherry's Sweet Cherry Pie
• Fork in the Road: North Platte Noodles from Tracey's Tangled Noodle
• Incidental Noodles from Evelyne 's Cheap Ethnic Eatz
• Zha Jiang Mian from Ms Baklover's Footscray Food Blog
• Tteokbokki from Tamar's Koreanfornian Cooking
• Pumpkin Miso Noodles in Shitake Dashi Broth from Billy's Half-Eaten
• Vietnamese Noodle Salad from Nina's Consumed Food Love
• Twice cooked pork with rice noodles from Suresh 's 3 hungry tummies
• Taco Soba Noodle from Anh's A food Lover’s Journey
• Nonya Curry Laksa from Lori's Wannabe Gourmand
• Fried Noodle Dish from Malou's Skip to Malou
• Noodle Kugels from Joanne's Second Helping