Cumin Lamb Stir-Fry Recipe Video

What is cumin doing in a stir-fry? Indeed, the pungent sweet spice is not a common spice in Chinese cooking like white pepper, star anise, or Sichuan peppercorn. However, cumin plays a role in the dishes of Uyghur Muslims who live in Xinjiang province in northwestern China. It's found in spice shops in China. In Vietnamese cooking, cumin seed (Cuminum cyminum) is a typical substitute for fresh rice paddy herb, rau/ngo om (Limnophila aromatica).

Chinese Islamic cooking fascinated me since a friend introduced me to it in the late 1980s at a restaurant in the San Gabriel Valley, east of Los Angeles. We gobbled up lamb stir-fried with lots of green onion and giant rounds of thick breads filled with more green onion punctuated by toasty sesame. This fragrant cumin lamb stir-fry came along later in my Chinese Islamic eating forays, and the dish has remained one of my favorites since.

Who are the Uyghur?

If you’re into Chinese politics, you may have heard about the plight of the Uyghur (a.k.a., Uighur, both pronounced “Wee-gurr”) population. Members of the Uyghur ethnic minority have been the focus of political persecution. Their land in Xinjiang province, a semi-autonomous region, is rich with oil and mineral resources. China annexed the territory in 1949. The Uyghur people have roots in Central and East Asia. They are Silk Road people. For quick background information, check out this informative slideshow published by PBS News Hour.

Political tensions aside, knowing a little about Uyghur culture shines light on what makes Asia fascinating, how it straddles and fuses varied cultures. For example, this is not a saucy stir-fry, but a sauceless, 'dry' stir-fry. The flavor is big, amped up with lots of garlic, ginger, cumin and chiles, both fresh and dried. Cumin lamb, called zī rán yáng ròu (孜然羊肉) in Mandarin, is deliciously unsubtle.

Choose your protein adventure

I like to stick with lamb for the stir-fry because lamb has a strong flavor that pairs well with the spices and aromatics. The best option is to buy a lamb steak cut from the leg because it’s easy to debone and prep. A good butcher counter should be able to help you. Buy a steak that’s no thicker than 1 inch (2.5cm) so you can handily slice it. There’s a tip in the recipe for how much to buy.

If lamb is unavailable, opt for beef steak, like sirloin or flank that you’d stir-fry with. If red meat isn’t your thing, choose boneless, skinless chicken thigh; use a little more starch in the marinade because chicken has more moisture than beef or lamb.

Chile Pepper Options

While you may stir-fry with regular bell pepper, I love to stir-fry with smaller chiles that are less fleshy and have lots of flavor. Pasilla and Anaheim chiles are easy to obtain at most supermarkets. You don’t need a lot for this dish so you may use one large pasilla, or a small one plus a small Anaheim. When in season, go for other varieties of chile peppers such as Hatch, Jimmy Nardello, or Corno di Toro.

For color, I use Fresno, a moderately spicy chile. You may opt for dried red chile flakes but if you have dried whole ones around, like the puya chiles used for Pok Pok’s toasted chile powder (prik pon khua), use those for visual interest and flavor complexity.

How to make Cumin Lamb Video

So now let’s cook! I made a cumin lamb video recipe for you. The photos in this post came from that cooking session.

Related posts

• Chinese-Islamic Scallion Sesame Bread would be great paired with cumin lamb!
• Beef and Lemongrass Asparagus Stir-fry is a Viet dish but cumin lamb may get you thinking about other flavorful stir-fries

Print Recipe

Cumin Lamb Stir-Fry

For the lamb, buy a bone-in lamb leg steak that weighs a bit less than 1 pound. Once you debone and trim any sinewy bits, you should net about 12 ounces (240 grams). In Mandarin Chinese, this dish is called zī rán yáng ròu (孜然羊肉).If your dark soy sauce is very dark, use ¾ teaspoon. You can always add extra in the pan, if you want a more dramatic look.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: lamb, stirfry, cumin, spicy

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 12 ounces 240g trimmed, boneless lamb leg
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch or potato starch
• ¼ plus ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more for stir-frying
• ⅛ teaspoon baking soda, optional
• 1 ¼ teaspoon Shaoxing rice wine, dry sherry, sake, or gin
• ¾ teaspoon regular soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce, or ¾ teaspoon regular soy sauce plus ¼ teaspoon molasses
• 1 large (about 6 oz/180g) pasilla pepper, or 2 medium Anaheim peppers
• 1 Fresno or jalapeño chili, deseeded, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 2 ½ teaspoons cumin seeds, kept whole or toasted and pounded
• 1 tablespoon dried chili flakes, or 4 or 5 dried puya or Japones chilies, seeded and cut into short lengths
• ¼ cup thinly slice green onions
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger
• 3 tablespoons canola or peanut oil,divided
• Brimming 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Instructions

• Thinly slice the lamb into bite size pieces. Put into a bowl, then add the starch, salt, baking soda, rice wine, regular soy sauce, and dark soy sauce. Stir well to make sure the lamb absorbs the seasonings. Set aside, or cover and marinate up to 1 hour.
• Stem and core the pasilla and Fresno chile. Cut the pasilla lengthwise into ¾-inch (2 cm) wide pieces then cut each on the diagonal into long diamond shapes. For the Fresno chile, halve it lengthwise then cut on the diagonal into slender pieces. Put both kinds of chiles on a plate near the beef. Organize the remaining ingredients so you’re ready to stir-fry with ease.
• Warm a large wok or carbon-steel skillet over high heat. Swirl in 1 tablespoon oil, and when hot, add the fresh peppers. Season with a big pinch of salt. After about 1 minute, when the peppers soften slight and are glossy and bright looking, transfer them to a bowl or plate.
• Reheat the pan over high heat and swirl in 2 tablespoons oil. Add the garlic and ginger, stir-fry briefly then push to the side. Dump in the lamb and push the slices around the pan to spread them into one layer. Expect the aromatics to move to the cooler edge where they won’t burn. Allow the meat to sear for about 1 minute (the edges will turn greyish), then swiftly stir and flip to stir-fry.
• When the meat has just lost most of its redness, add the cumin and dried chiles. Stir-fry until aromatic and to coat the lamb pieces, then return the fresh peppers to the pan. When everything is hot and fragrant, add the green onion. Swiftly stir to combine, then finish with the sesame oil. Transfer to a serving dish and enjoy.