Cumin lamb fried rice
Lamb strips flash-fried with cumin and ginger, then tossed with onion and day-old rice until every grain is separate — fragrant, warming and on the table in fifteen minutes.
- 30 min
- Serves 2
- Stir-fry
- Easy
Why it suits you: Yang-deficient people feel the cold, with chilly hands and feet and loose stools, and they are the first to notice Bailu's cooler mornings and evenings. Lamb warms the middle and kidneys and builds qi and blood, cumin and ginger dispel cold, and onion frees the yang. Piping hot, a plate of this warms you through and keeps the afternoon chill at bay.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 15 min- 1Cut the lamb into strips and mix with the soy sauce, cornflour and half the cumin; leave for 10 minutes. Dice the onion, chop the spring onions and beat the eggs.
- 2Heat 1 tbsp oil and stir-fry the ginger and lamb over a high heat until almost cooked, then lift out.
- 3Add the remaining oil and pour in the eggs. Before they set, add the rice and onion and stir-fry until the grains separate and the onion turns translucent.
- 4Add the peas and salt and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Return the lamb, sprinkle over the remaining cumin and the spring onions, toss and serve.
Cautions
- Lamb and cumin are warming and drying, so skip this when you have a dry mouth, sore throat, spots or a fever.
Chef's tips
- Day-old rice fries up drier and fluffier; flash-fry the lamb and lift it out, adding it back only at the end so it stays tender.
The TCM view
Lamb is sweet and warm, entering the spleen and kidneys, warming the middle and kidneys and replenishing qi. Cumin is pungent and warm, warming the middle, dispelling cold and stirring the appetite; onion is pungent and warm, freeing the yang; ginger warms and dispels cold; egg nourishes blood and yin, softening the lamb's dryness.
