At the moment I am into spicier food with a bit of crunch. One easy to way to get that is to wrap your filling in a crisp lettuce leaf – Romaine lettuce is good but by all means use what is in season where you live or what you really like. I’ll leaf it to you! It also makes for a brilliant, healthier wrap than some carbier options.
As for the inner crunch then I like to add bean sprouts and chopped spring onion/scallions to my savoury mixture but again you can use bamboo shoots, peppers and shredded cabbage.
This recipe has a Chinese pork mixture with garlic, chilli, ginger, soy sauce, lime juice, cinnamon and sweet chilli sauce. I often make my own chilli sauce for dipping when I feel it necessary to keep the sugar as low as possible but since only 2 tbsp are used for this whole recipe then go ahead and use a ready-mixed one – it won’t tip the balance too far the carby/sugary way.
I find this recipe will generously serve 4 so feel free to halve if you’re not a big family or crowd but it does mean it’s suitable for serving to larger gatherings and can be doubled too. Great for a Friday night ‘fakeaway’ meal!
Ingredients
METRIC/US
low-fat cooking spray or mist
500 g/1 lb low-fat (5% fat) pork mince/ground pork
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 red chilli, finely chopped
2 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
200 g/2 cups bean sprouts
3 spring onions/scallions, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
juice of 1 lime
1 Romaine lettuce, stalk removed and leaves separated
lime wedges to serve (optional)
Method
- Generously spritz a large frying or saute pan with low-fat cooking spray or mist. Heat, add the pork, garlic and chilli and lightly fry until the pork is browned, stirring the pan regularly.
- Add the ginger, cinnamon, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, beansprouts and two-thirds of the spring onions/scallions. Simmer for a further 5 minutes, stirring often.
- Remove from the heat, season to taste with salt and pepper and pour over the lime juice.
- Scoop the mixture into the lettuce leaves and sprinkle with the remaining spring onions/scallions. Garnish with lime wedges to serve if liked.
SERVES 4
WLS PORTION: 1/2
CALORIES PER PORTION: 200
PROTEIN: 28.9 g
CARBOHYDRATE: 8.8 g
FAT: 5.7 g
Image courtesy of http://www.aldi.co.uk