Hao You Sheng Cai

The crisp, glossy Cantonese favourite: whole lettuce briefly blanched in seasoned oiled water, drained, and draped in a quick glaze of oyster sauce and garlic, the bright New Year green whose name puns on growing wealth

Origin: Guangdong, Southern China

From the journey of Lettuce.

Hao you sheng cai, lettuce with oyster sauce, is one of the simplest and most beloved vegetable dishes of the Cantonese table, a fixture of the restaurant banquet and the home dinner alike. Its appeal lies in restraint: the lettuce is cooked for only seconds, just long enough to wilt and turn a vivid emerald while keeping its juicy crunch, then dressed in nothing more than a glossy spoonful of oyster sauce loosened with a little stock, garlic, and sesame oil. The dish carries a weight of meaning beyond its simplicity, for the Cantonese name for lettuce, shengcai, sounds almost exactly like the words for 'growing wealth' or 'producing fortune'. This pun makes lettuce an auspicious food, eaten especially at the Lunar New Year and at celebrations, and it is a head of lettuce that is hung up for the lion to 'pluck' in the cai qing, the climax of the lion dance, when the dancers tear the greens and scatter them to spread prosperity to the crowd. To serve a plate of glistening, jade-green lettuce in oyster sauce, then, is to wish good fortune on everyone at the table, and the dish appears on banquet menus precisely for that reason.

Ingredients

The Lettuce

2 large heads crisp lettuce (iceberg, romaine, or Chinese leaf lettuce), halved or quartered through the root
1 tbsp neutral oil
0.5 tsp salt

Sauce

2.5 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp chicken stock or water
1 tsp light soy sauce
0.5 tsp caster sugar
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tsp neutral oil, for the sauce
0.5 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp cornflour, mixed with 1 tbsp water

Method

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the tablespoon of oil and the salt; the oil gives the cooked lettuce its characteristic sheen.
Drop in the lettuce and blanch for just 30 to 60 seconds, until the leaves wilt and turn bright green but still keep their crunch. Drain very well in a colander, pressing gently, and arrange on a serving plate.
While the water heats, make the sauce: warm the teaspoon of oil in a small pan over medium heat, add the garlic, and fry for a few seconds until fragrant. Add the oyster sauce, stock, soy sauce, and sugar, and bring to a simmer.
Stir the cornflour slurry and add it to the simmering sauce, stirring until it thickens to a glossy, pourable glaze, about 30 seconds. Stir in the sesame oil.
Pour the hot sauce evenly over the drained lettuce and serve immediately, while the leaves are still hot and crisp.

Notes

Chinese leaf lettuce (sometimes sold as 'sang choy' or stem-lettuce tops) is the most authentic, but iceberg and romaine both work beautifully and hold their crunch. The lettuce can also be stir-fried rather than blanched: toss it in a very hot wok with the garlic for under a minute, then add the sauce ingredients directly. Use a vegetarian mushroom 'oyster' sauce to keep the dish meat-free.

The Gastrographer

Name: Hao You Sheng Cai
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Southern China
Ingredients: 2 large heads crisp lettuce (iceberg, romaine, or Chinese leaf lettuce), halved or quartered through the root; 1 tbsp neutral oil; 0.5 tsp salt; 2.5 tbsp oyster sauce; 3 tbsp chicken stock or water; 1 tsp light soy sauce; 0.5 tsp caster sugar; 1 clove garlic, finely minced; 1 tsp neutral oil, for the sauce; 0.5 tsp toasted sesame oil; 1 tsp cornflour, mixed with 1 tbsp water

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control