What, lamb in China? Really? How do we not know about this already …. Well perhaps because our Cantonese upbringing did not include the thrills and spills, treats and meats of Northern China where there is a large Muslim community who retained some Middle Eastern culinary influences (I’m alluding to the heavenly marriage of cumin with lamb). Whilst I have taken the ingredients from Yotam, I have to confess, I was not enamoured by his preparation (such faddles as dicing a shoulder of lamb and removing all fat and wobbly bits…. – he clearly has ‘staff’ and besides, there would be nothing left! Has he seen the marbling of our mountain / definitely non-texel sheep?) – this all sounded very time consuming and his instruction to ‘stir fry’ I knew would simply end in chewy disappointment. I was having none of it. So, herewith I have Welshified the recipe from our hero, the Oracle our YO, it to an easy no fuss version of a slow roast with huge benefits (primarily in the form of lashings of eye rolling melt in the mouth flavour). Be assured, you will not be disappointed with this one. Whilst it may take many hours to slow cook, it can be prepared in a jiffy.
Prep 5
min THE NIGHT BEFORE
Marinate overnight
Cook 5
hours early in the day so it has time to cool down for the evening
Serves 15
at a curry night with 2 other main courses
1.4kg lamb shoulder boned and rolled, whole (frozen is fine as it will have the night to thaw in its marinating fun)
The night before, place the lamb in a cast iron pan (Le Creuset/roasting pan with foil over the top).
Marinate in:
4 tsp
cornflour
2 tbsp
ground cumin
90ml dark
soy sauce/tamari
60ml cooking
wine/or Shaoxing rice wine if you have it
2 tbsp
caster sugar
Mix it all in a bowl and smear generously all over the lamb, put the lid on and say nitey nite.
The next day, cook at 200C for 30 mins, then turn down to 150C basting with the tasty spices every hour or so. Meanwhile…
4 aubergines, cut into 6cm x 2cm pieces, covered in
1 tbsp ground cumin and
1
tsp Salt
Sautéed in
60ml vegetable oil, for 5 minutes until beginning to brown stirring
occasionally. Add:
4cm piece fresh ginger, grated
2
tbsp soya sauce,
Fry for 3 more minutes stirring all the time until the aubergine is dark golden brown, leave to one side. At this time it is a good idea to separate some aubergine for the ‘vegan option’ if needed - see NB below.
Meanwhile,
4 tbsp cumin seeds (optional),
dry fry until crisp, don’t burn them like I did – 30 seconds max until fragrant,
tip into a saucer.
When the lamb is cooked use 2 forks to break up the extremely tender meat, lifting out any slices of fat and wobble. Leave the meat shreds in the liquid marinade until it is reabsorbed. When it is cool the excess oil will float to the top. Use kitchen towel to absorb this, or cool it down in the fridge and pick off the hard fat.
When read to serve, over a high heat, quickly toss the lamb, aubergines
and cumin seeds with:
4
tbsp soya sauce
6
mild red chillies, finely sliced on an angle (deseeded, if you prefer less heat)
6 spring
onions, finely sliced on an angle – a leek would do
30g
coriander, (ie a large bunch) stalks only (save the leaves to serve)
Remove from the heat and sprinkle over the
Coriander leaves
3 tsp
rice-wine vinegar if
you have it/ or balsamic vinegar.
Serve straight away.
NB: vegans and vegetarians? Do the final stir fry in 2 pans, and only put meat in one and Carlin peas (UK black peas) in the other. The aubergine makes a satisfying meat alternative.
Serving suggestions:
This worked well for a dinner party for 10 guests
(plus 4 extra family members and a few left overs for the next day). Large platters of salads provided a colourful
display of self-serve starters. These were
followed by the 2 curries and this lamb served with rice. Apple cake made a fine desert. It is easier to pre-plate the main course
with a 2-man production line.
Beetroot, goats cheese and toasted walnuts with mustard dressing (Dijon mustard,
honey, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and S&P).
Tricolore, tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, olive oil S&P.
Leaves, Figs, Parma ham, honey dressing (3tbsp olive oil and 2tbsp honey, S&P)
Main:
Chinese Welsh Lamb (recipe above)
Patar Paneer
Vegetable Curry with broccoli and cauliflower (large quarters of white onion, ‘mild curry
powder’, coconut milk, broccoli, chunky sweet potatoes, cauliflower, chick peas)
Boiled Rice
Desert
Simply The BEST Apple Cake (in the world) – with its
crunchy cinnamon crumb and tart Bramley apples from the farm, it went down
well.
Thanks be
to YO, The Oracle
