Real-deal Xinjiang cumin lamb recipe that yields crispy juicy lamb pieces coated with a bold cumin chili spice mix, stir fried with onion, garlic and cilantro. It’s a dish you can easily make at home, and it tastes just like what you’d get in China. {Gluten free adaptable}
Cumin lamb (孜然羊肉, Zi Ran Yang Rou), originally from Xinjiang cuisine, is such a popular dish that I thought was a Beijing dish growing up. It is just one of those dishes you see everywhere, no matter whether in a small diner or high school cafeteria.
When visiting China for the first time, especially the northern or western part of the country, you might be surprised at how popular lamb is. As a matter of fact, it is a staple for the Chinese Muslim community, which consists of about 20 million people. My family serves lamb quite a lot because my grandma used to make a mean lamb stew. Now, living in the US, where lamb dishes are not very common, I cook this dish at home to satisfy my nostalgia.
What is cumin lamb
Cumin lamb, when done properly, is very addictive. The lamb cubes are crispy on the surface and buttery tender inside. They are coated in a bold spice mix that includes cumin powder, chili pepper, and Sichuan peppercorns. Tossed in a fragrant oil with plenty of aromatics such as ginger, garlic, and onion, the lamb comes out like a flavor bomb that explodes in your mouth.
If your knowledge of Chinese food is based on Americanized-Chinese-style dishes from takeout restaurants in the US, you might be shocked to find out this dish does not include a stir fry sauce. That’s right! It is a different type of stir fry that uses dry spices instead of a sauce to season the food. Sometimes Chinese cookbooks call it a dry stir fry. It is actually the cooking method that’s most popular in the northern part of China, where I grew up.
This recipe uses a very easy approach to help you recreate the authentic experience in your own kitchen, without using a wok.
Ingredients
What cut of lamb to use
My favorite cut for cumin lamb is lamb leg. The meat has just the right amount of fat to keep the cooked pieces juicy and it’s very flavorful. If leg is not available, other cuts such as medallions, deboned loin chops, and stew meat are OK as well.
Mise en place
When you’re ready to cook, your table should have:
- Dried chili peppers and chopped ginger and garlic
- Cilantro
- Marinated lamb coated with cornstarch
- Spice mix
- Onion
How to cook cumin lamb
To cook cumin lamb:
- Sear the lamb in a heavy pan
- Once the lamb is browned and the inside is still pink, transfer it to a plate
- Saute the aromatics and chili pepper
- Add the onion for a quick stir
- Add back the cooked lamb with spice mix
- Stir to coat everything
Achieving the perfect cumin lamb stir fry
Here are some short but very important notes to help you cook the real-deal cumin lamb with perfectly cooked meat and a bold flavor.
1. Cut the meat to proper size
Although cutting the lamb into thin slices is the most popular way in Chinese restaurants, I stick to cubes when it comes to home cooking. Since the stoves in most home kitchens are not as powerful as those in restaurants, cutting the meat this way will help you avoid overcooking and yield tender meat.
2. Marinate the meat
This might be the most important step. Not only will the liquid ingredients eliminate any gamey flavor from the lamb, they also tenderize the meat over time. If you have extra time, I highly recommend marinating the meat for an hour or even longer, which will yield ultra-tender lamb.
3. What pan to use
My favorite piece of cookware is the heavy duty carbon steel 12.6-inch frying pan from DeBuyer. It’s extremely helpful if you use an electric stove at home. It heats up very hot, holds heat well, and is nonstick when properly seasoned. Instead of stirring the meat constantly, I sear each side until just golden while the inside is slightly pink, then set it aside. This way, the meat will be cooked perfectly at the end.
4. Use a generous amount of oil
It might look like a lot of oil, but remember, we’re cooking a dry stir fry and need plenty of oil to toast the spices and bind the ingredients together. Without enough oil, the spices will burn easily and stick to the skillet.
5. Add the spice mix at the right time
Don’t add the spices too early, which will burn them. And not too late, because we want to toast the spices with the hot oil so they are extra fragrant. We add them at the end of the cooking, and leave them in the pan for about 1 minute.
6. Use plenty of aromatics
Fresh garlic, ginger, and onion are the key components and make the lamb extra fragrant. Also, don’t be surprised by the huge bowl of dried chili peppers. Their purpose is to add aroma to the oil, but not spiciness. Make sure you use mild Chinese or Korean chili peppers, so the dish won’t be too spicy. If you prefer a less spicy dish, add 2 to 3 dried chili peppers instead of the quantity listed.
That’s it! Now you have the secret weapon to recreating the real-deal cumin lamb in your own kitchen. I hope you enjoy the dish as much as I do!
More Xinjiang-style recipes
- Da Pan Ji (Chicken Potato Stew with Noodles, 大盘鸡)
- Xinjiang Lamb Skewers (新疆烤串, chuar)
- Ding Ding Chao Mian (丁丁炒面, Fried Noodles in Lamb Tomato Sauce)
- Uyghur Lamb Pilaf (Polo, 羊肉抓饭)
- Baked Samosa, Two Ways (Uyghur Lamb Meat Pie, 烤包子)
Real-Deal Xinjiang Cumin Lamb (孜然羊肉)
Ingredients
- 1 lb (450g) lamb leg , cut to 3/2-inch (1.5-cm) cubes
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
Spice mix
- 2 tablespoons cumin powder
- 2 teaspoons Sichuan chili flakes (or Korean chili flakes)
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground Sichuan peppercorns (Optional)
Stir fry
- 4 tablespoons peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1/2 cup dried Chinese chili peppers
- 1 small white onion , large diced
- 1 thumb ginger , minced
- 5 cloves garlic , sliced
- 1 cup cilantro , chopped
- Toasted sesame seeds for garnish (Optional)
Instructions
- Combine lamb, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and salt in a big bowl. Mix well. Let marinate for 20 minutes at room temperature, or in the fridge up to overnight.
- Combine the ingredients for the spice mix in a small bowl.
- When you’re ready to cook, drain the extra liquid from the bowl of lamb. Add the cornstarch, a few tablespoons at a time, and mix, until all the lamb pieces are coated.
- Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add the lamb pieces and spread them out with a pair of tongs or chopsticks, so they don’t overlap. Let cook without touching until the bottom side turns golden, 1 minute or so. Flip the lamb and cook the other side until slightly golden, while the inside is still a bit pink, 30 to 40 seconds. Transfer the lamb to a big plate.
- Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, the dried Chinese chili peppers, ginger, and garlic. Stir a few times to release the fragrance. Add the onion. Stir and cook for about 1 minute, until the onion just starts to turn tender. Add back the lamb and sprinkle the spice mix all over. Stir immediately to coat the lamb with spice. Remove the pan from the stove and carefully try one piece of lamb. Sprinkle a bit more salt on it, if needed.
- Add the cilantro and give it a final stir. Transfer everything to a big plate immediately. Serve hot as a main dish.
Video
Nutrition
The recipe was published on Jan 2, 2018 and updated on Jun 22, 2022 with new video and images.
Delicious recipe! The lamb came out perfectly cooked and was not gamey at all. I used lamb shoulder & a non stick pan and would recommend trimming off most of the fat before cooking. I marinaded it for about 8 hours and flipped the lamb chunks half way through to get even coverage.
We’ve made this vegetarian by replacing the lamb with deep fried tofu (apologies). Otherwise we kept everything the same. Excellent flavor combinations. Don’t forget salt!
I had this for dinner last and so delicious.I had know dried Chinese chili peppers so substituted them with Red Peppers and still tasted Beautiful.Thank You Maggie for teaching me to cook Chinese with your Beautiful Recipes.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I fell in love with cumin lamb at a local Szechuan restaurant, and the flavor profile of this Xinjiang version reminds me very much of that. It’s now in my regular rotation. I just want to add that the Korean chili flakes do work really well and sometimes I skip the cornstarch when I get some really good, fatty cuts of lamb.
Thus recipe works, hint if adding xtra veges, cook them separately first with ginger garlic and an additional teaspoon of spice mix. This recipe is great and is the only time my wife who is Chinese, said my. Cooking was correct taste for the dish.
I will definitely do this – what size should the lamb cubes be approx?
I am still looking for Dry Fried Cumin Ribs like you get at Di Shui Dong in Shanghai 🙁
1/2″ or slightly larger (about 1 cm) cube is great. I love the dry fried cumin ribs too, but it’s a bit hard to make (I think it’s slow cooked first, then deep fried), also I cannot find the correct rib cuts in the US. One of these days I might develop a recipe but I probably need to use lamb chop instead.
Do you have a video showing how to prepare this dish?
I don’t have one right now but I’ll make sure to add it to me to-do list 🙂
I had this dish from a noodle place in Seattle- true love at first bite- can’t wait to try my hand at this dish-thanks so much!
Let me know how it goes! Happy cooking 🙂
Great recipe! Flavors were popping in all directions. Is MSG an ingredient that would enhance this dish? If so, what amount? Thanks!
Yes! MSG kinda enhance everything you cook lol You can use a small amount like 1/4 teaspoon in many stir fry dishes that yield 4 servings. It will make the dish slightly saltier (but less salty than using 1/4 teaspoon salt). If you’re concerned about the salt level, slightly reduce the salt or the soy sauce.
Good and Simple. It makes me sad what is happening in that city. Shameful.
This was an awesome recipe. I think I messed up on the peppers though. Are they supposed to be chewy?
Hi David, the peppers are there to add flavor and for the appearance of the dish, and you shouldn’t eat them. They are dried peppers so they are quite tough. If you prefer some peppers in the dish, I would simply chop up some mild chili peppers such as anaheim or cubanelle, and add them along with the onions.
Made it with chicken. Fireworks in the mouth. A great recipe for one of the truly great dishes in the world. Ma la heaven!!!
Hi, the recipe instructions is missing the shaoxing wine. Didn’t realize it was part of step 1 until I watched the video
Sorry about that! I just updated the recipe and now it is correct.
Hi this all looks amazing, but – 1/4 cup corn starch for a pound of meat? That sounds like way too much. Other recipes for similar dishes usually call for about a TBSP or so
I used quite a bit of cornstarch to create a light batter, combined with a bit more cooking oil, you will have a lightly fried lamb (similar to the restaurant style, slightly crispy, but not as crispy as deep fried). It’s totally OK to reduce the cornstarch to 1 tablespoon. The meat will be tender and juicy, but won’t be crispy.
The best in life, is exactly the dish i ate in a Beijing restaurant. Amazing and easy, the way u write is smooth and u simplify a very complex process to easy to follos steps
Ok, so I totally bastardized it and used the flavor-profile to make myself a stir-fried brown rice with ground lamb and a bit of sesame oil because I didn’t have seeds and, you know what? Still good! It’s a good combo of spices, however you do it. Thanks.
Such a lovely recipe. Yummy!!!
Took me three tries to nail it but more than worth the effort. What worked for me finally was cutting the lamb and onions into the proper size pieces (the video helped a great deal), marinating the lamb over night, and proper browning of the lamb.
We raise sheep, grow our own peppers, onions, garlic, and cilantro so this recipe is just a joy for me to have figured out. While the Sichuan peppercorns may be optional I highly recommend including them. Your happy tingly mouth will thank you. Thank you so much for sharing
This is a truly fantastic recipe! It’s deeply flavorful, beautiful, and not too hard to execute. I doubled the sichuan pepper, as I love the mala effect. And I have made it with chicken thighs to excellent effect, in addition to the original lamb. Yum! Truly addictive!
Maggie, great recipe.
Just returned from Datong and enjoyed this with a full roasted leg. Not cubed. Wow.
I’m thinking of a Thanksgiving dish here in November.