孜然炒羊肉
This dish is pulled straight out of the Xi'an Famous Foods cookbook, with some minor modifications. It's one of my favorite dishes of all time -- cumin, spice, and lamb are individually some of my favorite things; when they're all together in one dish the result is heavenly. Top some thick hand-pulled noodles with this and you have a flagship dish from northwestern China.
Active Time: 20 min
Total Time: 20 min
Ingredients
> boneless leg of lamb (10 oz)
> corn starch (1.5 tsp)
> vegetable oil (2 tsp)
> green onion (1-2 stalks, chopped)
> ginger (1/2 in, finely chopped)
> garlic (2 cloves, sliced)
> red onion (1/4, thinly sliced)
> cumin (1.5 tbsp)
> chili powder (1.5 tsp)
> salt, oil
Instructions
1. Slice the lamb into thin 1/8-inch pieces (or realistically, however thin you can get it). Place the lamb in a large bowl and mix with the corn starch and vegetable oil to coat.
2. In a large skillet / wok, stir-fry the green onions, ginger, and garlic over high heat for ~30s. Add the lamb, and stir-fry for about 5 minutes, or until evenly browned.
3. Turn the heat down to low, add the red onion, cumin, chili powder, and salt (to taste), and stir-fry to combine. Serve and enjoy!
Notes/Tips:
> In slicing the lamb thinly, it helps to have the lamb be slightly frozen, so that it's easier to work with.
> This dish goes great with rice, or served over noodles. If serving over noodles, I suggest adding a touch of soy sauce and vinegar (to taste) and mix everything together, so that the noodles are a touch more flavored. And you'll definitely want to use thick / wide / chewy noodles for this!
> The corn starch is very important -- it helps keep the lamb tender and gives it a nice "slippery" texture characteristic of a lot of Chinese stir-fried meat dishes.
> In general, I would suggest keeping the slices on the larger / thinner side. Not too thin, obviously, but the meat will curl up as it cooks, which makes it smaller / thicker. The thinner it is, the higher the flame you can use, which is a nice plus.