Cumin-Scented Lamb Noodles with Chili Oil
8
- Prep Time30 min
- Total Time30 min
- MakesServes 4
Recipe by Lindsay Guscott; produced by Aimee Nishitoba; photography by Carmen Cheung; food styling by Ashley Denton; prop Styling by Madeleine Johari.
This easy recipe is a riff on a Chinese dish from Shaanxi province. While it’s typically served with hand-pulled noodles, dried knife-cut ones—often found in Asian grocery stores—are also delicious.
Ingredients
454 g wide wheat noodles, such as knife-cut noodles or pappardelle
2 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp canola oil
454 g ground lamb
1 medium onion, sliced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/3 cup Chinkiang vinegar or sherry vinegar (see tip)
1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup roughly chopped cilantro
1 tbsp chili crisp, plus more for serving
Instructions
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook noodles to package directions. Reserve 1 cup cooking water, then drain noodles and return to pot.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium. Add cumin seeds. Toast, stirring often, until fragrant, 30 sec to 1 min. Transfer to a small bowl.
Increase heat to medium-high. Add oil to same pan, then lamb. Flatten lamb with back of a spatula. Cook, undisturbed, until underside is browned, about 5 min. Flip lamb, then break up large pieces with spatula.
Add onion. Cook, stirring often and breaking up meat, until onion is softened and ground meat is about the size of lentils, about 3 min. Add garlic, ginger and toasted cumin seeds. Stir until fragrant, 1 min. Sprinkle cornstarch overtop. Stir until combined, then add vinegar and soy. Cook until sauce is thickened, about 1 min.
Scrape lamb mixture into noodles along with reserved cooking water. Heat pot over medium-high until sauce has reduced and noodles are coated, 1 to 3 min. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and chili crisp.
Divide noodles between bowls. Serve with more chili crisp, if desired.
Kitchen tip
Chinkiang vinegar is a rice-based black vinegar used in Chinese cooking. It can be found at your local Asian grocery store.
This recipe is part of a recipe collection that features delicious weeknight dinners made from ground meat.
