This is one of China's most powerfully flavoured dishes, from the Muslim-majority Uyghur and Hui food traditions of Xinjiang province and the ancient Silk Road city of Xi'an; dishes that have stood at the intersection of Chinese, Central Asian, and Middle Eastern culinary culture for over two millennia. Strips of lamb are stir-fried at extreme, near-violent heat with whole cumin seeds, dried chillies, garlic, and a final blizzard of fresh cilantro (xiāngcài; 香菜, literally 'fragrant vegetable') that perfumes the entire dish in the last seconds of cooking. Cilantro's arrival in China is itself a Silk Road story: the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) is believed to have first received it from Central Asia, and the diplomat-explorer Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions in 138 BCE is traditionally credited with bringing it back along with other exotic ingredients. In Northern Chinese cooking, particularly in Shaanxi, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, cilantro is used with a generosity and centrality that surprises visitors accustomed to its use as a mere garnish: piled into bowls of hand-pulled noodles (biangbiang), scattered over lamb skewers (yang rou chuan), and heaped into dumplings and flatbreads. The combination of cumin (itself a Silk Road arrival from the West) and coriander in this dish is a direct, edible descendant of the ancient spice trade routes.
Ingredients
Meat
500 g lamb leg or lamb shoulder, sliced thinly against the grain into strips about 5mm thick (partially freezing the lamb for 30 minutes makes slicing easier)
Marinade
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
0.5 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
0.5 tsp sesame oil
Cooking
3 tbsp neutral oil with a high smoke point (sunflower, peanut, or rice bran)
Spice
1.5 tbsp whole cumin seeds
6 dried red chillies (Chinese dried chillies or de arbol), snapped in half
1 tsp ground cumin
0.5 tsp ground coriander seed
0.5 tsp chilli flakes or ground dried chilli (Xinjiang chilli powder if available)
Aromatics
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 cm fresh ginger, cut into matchsticks
Seasoning
1 tsp light soy sauce (for finishing)
0.5 tsp salt, or to taste
Finishing
40 g fresh cilantro (coriander), roughly torn, leaves and tender stems
3 spring onions (scallions), cut into 3cm lengths
1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted
To serve
Steamed rice or hand-pulled noodles (biangbiang mian), to serve
Method
Combine the lamb strips with the soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, cornflour, and sesame oil. Mix well and leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, or up to 2 hours in the refrigerator.
Prepare all ingredients before cooking begins. Stir-frying happens at extreme speed over very high heat; there is no time to chop or measure once the wok is on.
Heat a wok or large heavy frying pan over the highest heat your stove will produce. The wok must be genuinely very hot; a drop of water should evaporate instantly on contact. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil and allow it to heat until just beginning to smoke.
Add the lamb strips in a single layer if possible. Do not stir immediately; allow them to sear against the hot metal for 30–45 seconds before tossing. Stir-fry for 2–3 minutes total until the lamb is browned and just cooked through with slightly charred edges. Remove from the wok and set aside.
Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the wok over high heat. Add the whole cumin seeds; they will crackle immediately. Within 10 seconds, add the dried red chillies. Stir for 10 seconds.
Add the garlic and ginger. Stir-fry for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the ground cumin, ground coriander, and chilli flakes. Stir for 15 seconds.
Return the lamb to the wok. Add the soy sauce and salt. Toss everything together over high heat for 1 minute to combine and reheat the lamb.
Remove the wok from the heat. Add the spring onions and, critically, the torn fresh cilantro. Toss once or twice. The cilantro must hit the dish at the very end, off the direct heat: it should wilt slightly from the residual heat but not cook. Scatter the sesame seeds over.
Serve immediately over steamed rice or biangbiang noodles. The dish cannot wait; the cilantro continues to cook from the residual heat of the lamb and will lose its freshness within a few minutes.
Notes
The dish can be made with beef (flank steak or sirloin) as a direct substitute for lamb: the flavour profile changes but remains excellent. For a more authentic Xinjiang flavour, seek out Xinjiang chilli powder (lightly smoked, not very hot, with a slightly fruity quality) in Chinese supermarkets; it makes a noticeable difference to the final dish. In Xi'an restaurants, this preparation is often served on a flatbread (bing) as a sandwich; pile the cooked lamb and cilantro into a sesame flatbread for the street-food version. The dish is halal in its traditional form: no pork products, no alcohol (omit the Shaoxing wine and substitute water or a tiny splash of rice vinegar).
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