Cumin Lamb

We decided to make another dish from Lucky Peach Cookbook. This time we tried Cumin Lamb. It like all of the other recipes that we have tried was both excellent and easy. Recommend both the cookbook and this recipe.


Cumin Lamb

Makes 2 to 4 servings

2 Tbl cumin seeds

1 Tbl Sichuan peppercorns

1 Tea kosher salt

½-1 Tea chili flakes

1 lb boneless lamb leg, thinly sliced

2 Tbl neutral oil

2 C thinly sliced white or yellow onions

1 C sliced scallion, whites and greens

1 Tbl sliced garlic

2 Tbl soy sauce

2 TBl Shaoxing wine or dry sherry

1 C roughly chopped cilantro

1. Toast the cumin seeds and peppercorns in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Pulse in a spice grinder until broken into pieces, but not finely ground. Mix the spices with the salt and chili flakes.
2. Toss the meat in the spice mixture. making sure every piece gets a good, even dusting of the spices.
3. Heat a very large skillet or wok over high heat. Add the oil. and when it emits wisps of smoke, add the onions and cook, tossing, until translucent around the edges, 1 to 2 minutes. Scoop the onions out of the wok and transfer to a bowl.
4. Add the lamb and any residual spices to the pan. Cook, tossing, until the meat begins to brown, about 2 minutes. Add the scallions, garlic, soy sauce, and wine, and bring to a brisk simmer. Keep tossing to coat the lamb in the sauce. After 2 to 3 minutes, when the lamb is just cooked through and coated in sauce, return the onions to the pan and toss everything together. Remove from the heat and fold in the cilantro. Serve hot

Cumin and lamb are cozy bedfellows in a number of cuisines, but if they were putting together a scrapbook of their times and travels together, I think they'd choose this Chinese-style preparation as the goldenest of their golden years. It brings together so many old friends—garlic, onions. Sichuan peppercorns, dried red chili—but, like a great reunion episode of a sitcom, nobody lingers too long or tries to steal the spotlight.

Miso Claypot Chicken (No Claypot)

We purchased a new cookbook: Lucky Peach. It is a fun cookbook of easy to make Asian dishes. Making the dish was an amazing experience for us. For years we have had a Japanese Rice Cooker that we swear by. Only when we made this one dish meal, Miso Claypot Chicken (No Claypot), in the Rice Cooker did I notice it has a setting for Bi Bom Bot -The Korean rice dishes with crispy rice around the sides where the rice touches the pot. Damn! It worked the rice was crispy. Who knew? A great double find for us, both the recipe and the setting on the Rice Maker.

Miso Claypot Chicken (No Claypot)

Lucky Peach

Peter Meehan

Makes 4 servings

2T    soy sauce

1T    oyster sauce

1T    Shaoxing wine

1T    white or red miso

1/2t   kosher salt

1/2t   sugar

1/2t   sesame oil

+       white pepper

4       boneless, skin-on chicken thighs, cut into 1” pieces

8       fresh shiitake mushroom caps, thinly sliced, or 4 dried shiitakes, soaked, stemmed, and thinly sliced

1C    jasmine rice, rinsed and drained

1C    chicken stock or water

1       slice ¼” thick) fresh ginger

2       scallions, cut into 1* pieces

1.            In a large bowl whisk together the soy sauce, oyster sauce, wine, miso. salt, sugar, sesame oil. and a few grinds of white pepper. Add the chicken and mushrooms and fold to coat

2.            Combine the rice, stock, and ginger in a rice cooker or a small Dutch oven. For a rice cooker: Scrape the chicken mixture and all of the marinade on top of the rice. Scatter with scallions. Cover, start the rice cooker, and cook until the cycle is done. Open the lid and check the chicken for doneness. Depending on your model the chicken may need a couple more minutes to cook through. If it does, set the rice cooker for another cycle, press start and check again in 5 minutes.

For a Dutch oven: Place over medium heat and cook for 5 minutes, until just simmering. Reduce the heat to low and cook until all the liquid is absorbed and the chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes. Fluff the rice, scraping up the crust from the bottom of the pot.

3.            Scoop out and serve by the bowlful, or eat it straight out of the rice cooker.

A one-pot meal for the ages. The rice in the bottom of the rice cooker will go all dark and delicious like an Asian socarrat on you. If you've got a timer on your rice cooker, you could conceivably dump it all in there in the morning and come home to hot dinner right when you walk through the door!