The true gem - Asian style cumin lamb

Often times people say my husband is lucky because he has a wife who knows how to cook, I say I am lucky because I have a husband who appreciates great good!

Every time we move (yes we moved 5 times in the past 10 years!), one of the first thing I do is too find a local ranch that I can order a whole animal. We like to eat organic grass fed meat, it's better for you but it's also pricey, so ordering a whole animal is a lot more economical. But make sure you have a deep freezer, or at least a second fridge before you do that!

We used to order 1/2 a cow and a whole lamb every year, but as we (my husband) get older, we are trying to cut down our red neat consumption, so we just order a whole lamb and cut out the beef!

I made this dish kinda by accident, I had some lamb shoulder roast left from slicing the meat for hot pot (Asian style fondue). I don't have enough left to really make a roast or stew, so I thought might as well slice it up and stir fry it.

I grew up in Taiwan, I don't think lamb is really suited for hot and humid tropical weather, so eating lamb was really uncommon and almost a luxury. But over the years, there are more lamb restaurant popping up, my mom was telling me about this restaurant she went to with stir fry lamb, so that gave me the idea of making "Asian" style lamb.

The key to making really tender and almost juicy stir fry lamb, is a key step in Asian cooking call "da-shuei", it literally means beat the water inside the meat. This technique applies to making stuffing for dumplings or pot stickers, basically a great way to tenderize the meat.

So first thinly sliced the meat, I have probably around a pound or a bit less, then add salt, white pepper (white pepper is another great spice to have on hand for Asian cooking, adding a little bit of it can really help enhance the taste of the dish, I always add a bit of white pepper in my meat marinade), and then 1 Tsp of Asian cooking wine (I only have sake on hand so that's what I use, you can use shao-shing wine or Asian rice wine) and 1 Tsp of water, then here comes the "da-shuei" process. Use a pair of chopsticks (and yes, you are making Asian food, chopsticks are necessary :), start stirring the meat, you can choose whether clockwise or counter clockwise, but it needs to be in the same direction (don't ask me why, this is old traditional Asian wisdom), you have to do it quickly so it's kinda an exercise for me, too! Do that for about 1-2 minutes, until you can no longer see the water in the bowl, that means the meat has absorbed the water. Then crack an egg in there, and then add some corn starch, repeat the "da-shuei" process again for about 2-3 minutes. This time the meat won't be able to absorb all the egg, but it's fine. You can also add a bit of sesame oil in there, it's another great way to add some additional Asian flavor in the dish.

A couple more ingredients to get the dish ready, cumin and chili powder, each 2 tsp. You can use any kind of chili powder you have on hand as long as it doesn't have too strong of a smokey flavor or too spicy. Last, cut up some cilantro.

Now heat up a wok or a pan, I wouldn't recommend using non stick pan, you want a pan that you can get it real hot to get a nice sear. Add oil in the pan when the pan is hot, basically just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan and then some (we try to not cook with too much oil, if you don't mind you can add more), and then add the lamb in. Distribute the lamb evenly in the pan, and then leave it alone for 10-15 seconds. And then check and see if you get a nice golden sear, you can flip it and sear the other side, this is not a dish you want to constantly stir in the pan. Once the other side is done with the sear, add the cumin and chili pepper in, stir/swirl in the pan for around 5-10 seconds, and then turn the stove off, and add in the cilantro.

That's it! The actual cooking process is super quick, since the lamb slices are thin, it really doesn't need to be cooked that long! Kai-fan-le (bon appetite!)

Note: you can also use pork for this recipe.I have tried using pork that I cubed up, taste really good as well.