Chinese lettuce

Loose-headed Chinese leaf lettuce (tong sang choi), tender and quick-wilting. It goes in shredded for the final thirty seconds (or is laid in the bowl for the boiling soup to be poured over) keeping a fresh crunch in classics like dai pai dong lettuce and minced-fish soup.

TCM properties

Nature · cooling　Flavour · sweet、bitter　Meridians · stomach、large intestine

Traditional food therapy

In Cantonese food therapy lettuce is used to clear heat, promote urination and generate fluids, a light cooling touch for quick-boiled soups.

Cautions: read first

• Those with a weak, cold spleen and stomach should eat only a little
• In a quick-boiled soup (滾湯) add it in the last 30 seconds, or lay it in the bottom of the bowl and pour the boiling soup over to cook it through, so it stays crisp

Preparation

Wash and shred it, then add it at the very end of the soup or set it in the bottom of the bowl.

Origin

Grown year round in Guangdong. Australian labels rarely distinguish Chinese lettuce (唐生菜) from Western lettuce; supply is locally grown. Chinese lettuce on an Australian tag can mean the long 油麥菜 or the leafy 唐生菜; lettuce in oyster sauce is iceberg in Hong Kong too

Availability in Australia

Easy to find

Pairs well with