Xinjiang Cumin Lamb Stir Fry

1. Lamb – Butterflied or boneless lamb leg roast meat is my preferred. Rump is similar. Best cut for lamb flavour, not too fatty, and tenderness (baking soda also plays a part, see below). Other lamb chop cuts will work but are smaller/fattier. Shoulder, shanks and other slow cooking cuts aren’t suitable. Pricey backstrap is wasted on this recipe, in my opinion, unless you can get it very cheap! (Save it for this recipe)

Don’t slice too thinly, you want a bit of bite to the lamb pieces. Also, if too thin, it’s hard to cook to make golden as there’s too many really thin pieces!

2. Chinese cooking wine(“Shaoxing wine”) is an essential ingredient for making truly “restaurant standard” Chinese dishes. Substitute with Mirin, cooking sake or dry sherry.Non alcoholic sub– sub with 2 tablespoons chicken stock/broth.

3. Baking soda/bi-carb – Chinese restaurant secret to tenderise meat (called “velveting”). Tried and loved method used by readers for years – see method for chicken and beef for stir fries!

4. Sichuan pepper – Cold spiciness, a bit lemony, rather than hot spiciness you get from normal chilli like cayenne pepper! Usually I recommend grinding your own but in this recipe, pre-ground is just as good. To grind your own, dry toast 1 1/2 tsp, cool, grind, sift out lumps, measure out 1/2 tsp powder.

Substitute with 1/4 teaspoon white pepper.

5. Dried chilli – Any Asian or Indian/sub-continent red dried chillies will be fine here. Primarily used for chilli flavour, sautéed whole, not meant to be eaten. Doesn’t release much spiciness.

6. Leftovers will keep for 3 – 4 days in the fridge. Not suitable for freezing.

Nutrition per serving assuming 4 servings.