L., with great misgivings written all over his face, asked me what this dish was and I said "well, I think it will taste a bit like spring rolls and sort of like a Bahn-mi sandwich but be much healthier". He then pointed out that "taste like" and "healthier than" were not necessarily things that he wanted to hear in a dish description and that he was not looking forward to being my guinea pig for this particular culinary experiment.
Based on his lukewarm support, I made less than I had originally planned and had to stop eating at one point so that he could plow on. Mr. Hollow Leg. formerly known as L., also requested that this dish make an appearance again, sooner rather than later. I must warn you to hide your portion of the dipping sauce because your dinner companion will offer to fight you for it. Mine did - he's lucky I'm his mother or I would have fought back. It was really good.
The basic premise for this dish came about because I didn't feel like bread or fried food but I wanted crunch and Asian flavors. Hello, lettuce leaves used as a vehicle for a pork filling and lightly pickled vegetables!
Pickling Liquid and Dipping Sauce
1 cup rice wine vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1/s tsp Sriracha sauce
1/2 cup each of the vegetables that you will be pickling (see directions for more information)
In a low saucepan or frying pan, heat the vinegar and sugar together until the sugar has melted. Remove from heat and add the fish sauce and the Sriracha; adjust amounts to suit your taste.
Add your vegetables to the pan and let sit for 1 hour to lightly pickle. You need crunch for this dish so I used carrots cut into thin coins, sliced radishes and bean sprouts. Use what you like. I was very careful not to mix them together when placing them in the picking liquid so that later I could put them separately on a serving platter and let L. pick what he wanted to use rather than imposing the three veggies upon him. As in many recipes, kitchen tongs were a life-changer.
Pork Filling
1 lb best quality ground pork (not the supermarket version that looks like little worms as this contains too much water and will not crisp up no matter how much you try).
1/2 tsp Sriracha
2 tsp fresh ginger, grated on a microplane (I keep a whole root in the freezer, grate off what I need and replace it in the freezer to avoid waste since the root usually spoils in the fridge by the time I have used the whole thing.)
1 Tbsp coconut milk
Salt
Heat a teflon saucepan over medium heat for a few minutes. Add all of the ingredients except for the coconut milk. Cook until the meat is brown and cooked through, stirring as little as possible so that it will get crispy. Add the coconut milk, stir and remove from heat. Set aside.
Remaining Ingredients and Assembly
Head of large leaved lettuce, washed and separated into separate leaves
Mint leaves, carefully gone over so that no tough stem bits remain
Coriander leaves, carefully gone over so no tough stem bits remain
Drain the vegetables, reserving the pickling liquid to use as a dipping sauce for the lettuce bundles. I suggest giving each diner a small ramekin of the sauce for their own personal use. Place the drained vegetables on a platter along with the lettuce, mint and coriander. Put the room temperature filling in a bowl.
To dig in, take one lettuce leaf. Add some filling and whatever of the vegetables and herbs take your fancy. Roll the lettuce up into a bundle around the filling and extras and dip in your sauce. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
(main photo updated 01/03/20)