Hand-Pulled Noodles and Cumin Lamb

, from Issue #78. May, 2018
Photography by Olivia Galletly.
Hand-Pulled Noodles and Cumin Lamb

These delicious noodles are surprisingly straightforward. Don’t worry if they rip slightly as you pull them, you will hardly notice once mixed in with the cumin lamb.

Serves: 4–6

INGREDIENTS

Hand-pulled noodles
2 cups high grade flour, plus extra for cutting
½ teaspoon salt
Cumin lamb
3 boneless lamb leg steaks, finely sliced, fat discarded
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Shaoxing Chinese cooking wine
2 tablespoons ginger, minced
½ bunch fresh coriander
sesame oil, for frying
1 red onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 red chilli, finely chopped
2 bunches of bok choy, roughly chopped
1 cup mung bean sprouts
3 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons kecap manis
2 tablespoons chilli in oil

METHOD

Hand-pulled noodles: In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the high grade flour, salt and 250ml water. Knead until a smooth dough forms. Cover and set aside to rest for 20 minutes.

Place the dough on a floured flat surface. Using a rolling pin, roll into a 30cm x 30cm square. Using a sharp knife, cut dough into 8 long strips. Dust with extra flour, cover and set aside for 20 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Take the noodle strips one at a time and use your hands to gently stretch the noodle out until around 3 times the original length. As you drop the noodle into the water, stretch it out further.

Cook for 2 minutes or until the noodle has risen to the surface. Transfer to a colander and repeat with remaining noodles. Run the noodles under cold water if they begin to stick together in the colander.

Cumin lamb: Place the lamb strips, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and ginger in a large bowl, cover and set aside to marinate for 1 hour.

Pick the coriander leaves and place to one side, then finely chop the stalks.

Heat a little sesame oil in a large sauté pan and fry the red onion until translucent. Add the garlic, cumin seeds, ground cumin, coriander stalks and fresh chilli and fry for 2 minutes. Add the bok choy and fry for a further 2 minutes. Place the contents of the pan into a bowl and set aside.

In the same sauté pan, heat a little more sesame oil. Add the marinated lamb and fry for 3 minutes or until just browned. Fry in batches if pan is overcrowded. Add the spices and bok choy back into the pan along with the noodles, mung bean sprouts, soy sauce, kecap manis and chilli oil and heat through.

Serve with coriander leaves and extra chilli oil. Serves 4–6.