Spicy Thai Lettuce Cups

Full of all the yummy aromas of South East Asia this dish is a light and zingy starter or a colourful and fresh canape. For a starter you can either plate it up, three little lettuce 'boats' on a plate with some sprigs of fresh herbs and maybe some pickled radishes looks very pretty, or alternatively for a more casual, family-style meal serve all the elements in separate bowls and your guests can make their own. It's gluten free and best of all, once you have the ingredients you can whip it up in about 15 minutes.

This recipe is also in our book, but in the book I make it with tulip petals - which is a fun, floral alternative in Spring. Make sure to source organically grown, food safe tulips or grow your own.

Photos: Sharon Cosgrove Photography

Serves 4 -6 as a starter, more for canapes

500g good quality minced pork or minced beef or a mixture of both (with plenty of fat)
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 stick of lemongrass, finely chopped
2cm fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 red chillies, finely chopped, remove the seeds if you don’t like it too spicy
2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon of palm sugar (or soft brown sugar)
4 lime leaves, finely shredded
Juice of ½ lime

To serve:

Baby Gem lettuce leaves or in the spring you can use tulip petals
A mixture of herbs including coriander, mint and if possible Thai Basil
Roasted peanuts
Lime ‘cheeks’ or Wedges

1. Prepare all the ingredients you need in advance, you need to work fast once you start cooking.

2. Heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan or wok over a medium heat. When it is hot (but not smoking – you don’t want to burn the aromatics) add the lemongrass, ginger, red chilli and garlic. Stir fry for about a minute until they have started to soften and you can smell the aromatics.

3. Turn up the heat to high and immediately add the pork or beef. Stir fry for about two minutes until the pork is all white and almost cooked. Next add the fish sauce, palm sugar (or brown sugar) and shredded lime leaves, stir fry for another couple of minutes until everything is brown a bit sticky and beginning to caramelise. Turn off the heat and add the lime juice. Taste the dish and add more fish sauce if it needs more seasoning.

4. Serve the aromatic pork or beef in a dish surrounded by lettuce leaves, herbs, extra lime wedges and the roasted peanuts. Using the lettuce leaves as a little cup add the aromatic beef or pork, herbs and peanuts and then roll up and eat.