This Lamb Rice or Xīnjiāng shou zhuā fàn in Mandarin (新疆手抓饭) is a signature dish in Xinjiang home-cooking. It’s very special and usually reserved for holidays only—for good reason. Sheep are a precious commodity for Xinjiang or Uyghur people. Their wool is a good source of income, and their milk is an essential part of their daily diet.
Discovering Uyghur Street Food
Do you remember reading about our trip to Xi’an’s Muslim Street and the amazing street food we tried there? We’re huge fans of that style of cooking. Recipes include Lamb Skewers, Big Plate Chicken, and Cumin Lamb, just to name a few Xinjiang Uyghur classics we have already posted.
During our recent trip to Shanghai, we found out that there is a smaller, similar street food event every Friday from 11:00 to 4:00 by the street corner of (澳门路/Aomen Lu) and (常德路/Changde Lu ).
If you find yourself in Shanghai on a Friday, make sure to get there early, because a lot of the carts sell out very quickly, and this Xinjiang Lamb Rice was one of the foods that had disappeared by the time we arrived. Bill and I only saw the bottom of two GIANT woks sitting empty with a few lonely grains of rice—a painful reminder of what we’d missed.
Since we did not get to try the lamb rice, I was on the hunt for it over the next few days. Bill and I would regularly go restaurant hopping, going into one restaurant and ordering the best thing on the menu (one dish, sometimes two, max), before moving on to the next restaurant and repeating that same process until we couldn’t eat anymore.
It’s our solution to the limitations on both time and meals while we travel. So for this lamb rice dish, we ended up trying several versions at different restaurants. Here are my findings: this Uyghur lamb rice dish is surprisingly mild. The richness of the dish comes from the combinations of lamb fat and sweet carrots. It’s super comforting, and it’s great as either a side dish or a main course.
The fact that this humble, homey dish has made its way into the mainstream with the rise of the middle class in China is telling. I am sure it will soon make its way overseas to your corner of the world. But in the meantime, you can try it out with this recipe, especially if you like lamb. The cooking method is very similar to that of our Rice Cooker Ribs and Rice recipe, which many of you have tried and loved!
Recipe Notes
A few notes before we begin:
- It’s very important to pick fatty lamb and to separate out the fatty pieces.
- Instead of a rice cooker, you can use a regular pot to cook the rice, but remember to add some onion/carrot mixture to the bottom of the pot to prevent the rice from sticking and/or burning.
- The amount of liquid used to cook the rice should be 15% to 20% less than usual, because there will be additional moisture from the onion, carrots and lamb.
Recipe Instructions
Soak the jasmine or long grain white rice for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.
While the rice is soaking, blanch the lamb by boiling 4 cups of water in a pot along with the lamb and ginger. Let it boil for a couple of minutes, and then turn off the heat. Use a slotted spoon to pick out the lamb pieces and set them aside, making sure to drain off any excess water. Then use a fine mesh strainer to strain the cooking liquid. Reserve that liquid to cook the rice.
Now heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Add ONLY the fatty lamb pieces, and stir-fry to get a nice crust on them. Turn the heat down to medium low, and render the fat until the pieces start to turn golden brown, about 6 to 8 minutes.
Turn the heat to medium, and add the onion. Cook until the onion is translucent. Now turn the heat back up to high and add the blanched lamb in a single layer so as to brown the meat on all sides. This will take a few minutes
Add 2 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid you reserved earlier, along with the salt, soy sauce, and cumin powder, and mix everything well. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Now add in the carrots and raisins (if using), and cover for another minute to bring the mixture back up to a boil. Turn off the heat. (Don’t worry, the carrots will finish cooking in the rice cooker. Also, at this point, the taste will be on the salty side, but remember that it will mellow up once mixed in with the rice.)
Pour everything into the rice cooker (or a pot––we cooked it in a cast iron pot this time), and add the rice. The rice should be spread out evenly. There should be enough liquid to see peeking through the rice grains (you may need to add more water if needed), but the liquid level should not be above the rice.
Cover and start the rice cooker. If you are using a pot, turn the heat up to medium high to bring the mixture to a simmer, cover, turn the heat down to low, and cook for 15-20 minutes.
Once the rice is done cooking, open the lid, mix everything together, add salt to taste (if necessary) and enjoy.
If you want to get a little fancy and add more color to the dish, you can garnish with chopped cilantro.
Xinjiang Lamb Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked white rice
- 2 pounds fatty lamb (900g, cut into 1/2 inch chunks, separate out the fatty pieces from the lean meat)
- 4 cups water
- 3 slices ginger
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 medium onion (diced)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 pound carrots (cut into thin strips)
- ¼ cup raisins (optional)
Instructions
- Soak the rice for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- While the rice is soaking, blanch the lamb by boiling 4 cups of water in a pot along with the lamb and ginger. Let it boil for a couple of minutes, and then turn off the heat. Use a slotted spoon to pick out the lamb pieces and set them aside, making sure to drain off any excess water. Then use a fine mesh strainer to strain the cooking liquid. Reserve that liquid to cook the rice.
- Now heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Add ONLY the fatty lamb pieces, and stir-fry to get a nice crust on them. Turn the heat down to medium low, and render the fat until the pieces start to turn golden brown, about 6 to 8 minutes.
- Turn the heat to medium, and add the onion. Cook until the onion is translucent. Now turn the heat back up to high and add the blanched lamb in a single layer so as to brown the meat on all sides. This will take a few minutes. Add 2 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid you reserved earlier, along with the salt, soy sauce, and cumin, and mix everything well. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Now add in the carrots and raisins (if using), and cover for another minute to bring the mixture back up to a boil. Turn off the heat. (Don’t worry, the carrots will finish cooking in the rice cooker. Also, at this point, the taste will be on the salty side, but remember that it will mellow up once mixed in with the rice.)
- Pour everything into the rice cooker (or a pot), and add the rice. The rice should be spread out evenly. There should be enough liquid to see peeking through the rice grains (you may need to add more water if needed), but the liquid level should not be above the rice. Cover and start the rice cooker. If you are using a pot, turn the heat up to medium high to bring the mixture to a simmer, cover, turn the heat down to low, and cook for 15-20 minutes.
- Once the rice is done cooking, open the lid, mix everything together, add salt to taste (if necessary) and enjoy.
nutrition facts
This is an interesting take. I was looking for a recipe like my mom used to make, and didn’t know that Xinjiang food is getting more popular. It is very simple when she makes it, I think the only spices she uses are cumin and white petter. But when made right it shouldn’t taste bland. We always used short grain rice and the quality of the carrots can really made a difference.
I do wonder, what does the blanching do for the lamb?
Hi Janna, sorry to have missed your comment. Just wanted to answer your question: the purpose of blanching the meat is to get rid of impurities for a cleaner dish.
Hi!
I was surprised to see this dish here as it is extremely similar to the most popular dish in my country Uzbekistan. We call it plov (pilaf, palov). It was known to be served to Alexander the Great when he conquered the city of Samarkand. The ingredients are pretty much same as in your recipe – lamb, rice, onions, carrots, raisins, cumin. We often add chickpeas, barberries and a whole garlic head. We also simmer it instead of steaming. Plov is served in Uzbekistan at all major events, be it a wedding, funeral, baby birth, religious holidays, etc, that’s how much we love and value it :)
Anyway, thanks for all your wonderful recipes, can’t wait to try something!
Wow, Muslima, thank you so much for a piece of your culture. Food always brings people together!
It’s all related, back from a time when all of Central Asia was connected via the Silk Road, borders were porous, and the concept of nationalism didn’t exist. Uzbek and Uyghur are still very much mutually-intelligible languages, both descendants of the old Chagatai Khanate, and a Uyghur villager from Kashgar or Hotan will feel quite at home in the small-town bazaars around the Ferghana valley of Uzbekistan. Just as every city of Uzbekistan has its own signature plov recipe, there are also many variations on Uyghur polo.
Good dish. Easy to make and we liked it. I used lamb and used all the ingredients listed above but still feel there is a missing ingredient to make this recipe a wow! I probably will add chili or garlic.
Totally agree, Lee! Like I said in the post, the traditional version of this dish is on the bland side. Some garlic and chili would definitely “wake” it up.
You could try serving it alongside cold, fresh, thick sour yogurt and a spicy, vinegary cold salad (liangcai) as the Uyghurs do.
Just made this and it was awesome! Almost indistinguishable from what I’ve tasted in China.
Followed the recipe precisely and it came out fabulous.
Thanks so much!
Wow, high praise! Thank you so much, Alex.
This looks amazing! I’m going to try making this for dinner, and I will use boneless chicken thigh in replacement of lamb. Do you think I need fatty pieces in this case?
Thanks!
Hi Mollie, I think a little bit of rendered chicken fat would do wonders for this rice dish.
This looks delicious…what kind of lamb chops did you use??? are the lamb pieces chewy or tender…(I’m assming fatty pieces of lamb are crunchy). thanks
Hi Lyn, you can use shoulder chops (then debone), or the breast. Just remember not to use lamb shanks, which are too lean.
MMMM looks delicious . All I need is lots of people and more days in the week to try all your lovely recipes. Please would you tell me about the lamb …. is it what we call shoulder , here in Uk or leg ….. or what??
thank you
Maggie
Hi Maggie, probably should be shoulder and definitely not leg, which is too lean. Breast meat also works great for this dish.
thank you for your reply, xx
Thanks for sharing, this recipe looks really good. Are there alternatives besides lamb? Would cumin taste good with pork or chicken?
Hi Ami, choosing between pork or chicken, I would pick boneless chicken thighs.
How about pork vs cow for this recipe, and which part of each?
Then cow (beef) it is. I think chuck steak is a good choice for this dish. Just remember the beef you use needs to be slightly on the fatty side. Good luck :-)
Do you think you could do this with fatty ground beef? I’m not big on lamb but love food from Xinjiang.
I think so, a fatty piece of chunk steak should work. Good luck!
Hi Judy,
What is the function of blanching the lamb? And — in doing so — do you add the lamb to the cold water before bringing to the boil? (When I think of blanching, I think of adding ingredients for a quick dip in already boiling water.) Thanks for clarifying! :)
-Danny
Hi Danny, branching the lamb is to get rid of impurities in the meat. I included a picture of these kind of “impurities” in our Spicy Beef Noodle Soup recipe. Have a look.
Your dish looks good. Right now, I am not able to try out your recipe as I am washed up in the Land of the Vegans. I believe the pots and pans and dinning table etc are certified vegan free.
Hahaha…