Happy Chinese New Year!

Never one to miss out on a party, join us in celebrating the Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year in style with this ‘fakeaway’. This year is the year of the Tiger, but we aren’t allowed to cook them, so here’s a recipe for lamb instead.

Welsh Lamb Stir-fry Xinjiang Style

We wanted to do a recipe for Chinese New Year that had a Welsh twist; so as Welsh lamb is readily available and goes so beautifully with Sichuan pepper this recipe seemed a no brainer! The dark soy sauce and sherry give the lamb a beautiful glaze and colour which really pops against the red chilies and green coriander leaves. Showstopper!

The reason Sichuan Pepper and lamb work so well together, is that Sichuan Pepper neutralises ‘gamey’ flavour from stronger tasting meats like lamb, venison, pheasant, duck, goose and guinea fowl, so it makes the ideal spice to add to marinades, rubs and dishes with ‘gamey’ meats.

You can substitute the Shaoxing wine in this recipe with dry sherry left over from Christmas if, like here, there is more chance of you popping down your local shop and bumping into Elvis (Presley not Preseli!) than there is them having Shaoxing wine on the shelf.

This meal can be cooked in 30 minuets so its the ideal midweek fakeaway for your cravings. Just serve up with some steamed jasmine rice.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

400g lamb chops, or leg steaks
1 coriander plant (stem and root chopped)
2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra if needed
1cm ginger, peeled and finely minced
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1tsp Sichuan pepper sea salt
10 dried red chillies, cut into 1cm lengths (use less if heat isn’t your thing!)
5 spring onions, cut into 5cm lengths
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine or Dry Sherry
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp corn flour mixed with 60ml cold water

Meat marinade

1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
1 tsp sesame oil
1 pinch bicarbonate of soda (optional)
1 Pinch Sichuan pepper sea salt

Method

1. Remove the bone from the chops and slice the meat into cubes. Combine with the meat marinade ingredients and set aside for at least 10 minutes, or preferably 30 minutes.
2. Pick the leaves from the coriander plant and set aside. Roughly chop the stems and roots.
3. Heat a wok over high heat and add the oil, then the lamb. Fry the lamb for about 4 minutes, turning periodically with a pair of tongs until browned. Remove the meat from the wok set aside, then return the wok to the heat.
4. Add a little more oil to the wok if needed, then add the ginger, garlic and chopped coriander stems and roots. Toss until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds.
5. Add the chillies and toss for about a minute, taking care not to burn them. Add the spring onions and toss quickly, then return the lamb to the wok.
6. Drizzle the lamb with the Shaoxing wine/sherry, add the salt and sugar and toss the lamb for 2 more minutes, until the spring onions soften.
7. Add in a little of the corn flour mixture, but only as much as needed to thicken the juices in the wok.
8. Toss through the remaining coriander leaves and serve you’re your steamed jasmine rice.