A Chinese recipe for lamb chops – spicy, numbing and bursting with flavour
- Use smaller chops in this dish for a milder lamb flavour – you don’t have to trim them, but it does make them easier to eat
- The Sichuan peppercorns should be gently toasted in a dry pan before grinding to release the aroma
Lamb doesn’t feature much in Cantonese cuisine, because people think the flavour is too strong. It is eaten in other parts of China, though, where often it is cooked with distinctive flavours to balance the taste.
Young lamb has a much milder taste than older lamb, so choose smaller chops for this recipe.
Lamb chops with black beans, cumin, chillies, Sichuan peppercorns and vegetables
You don’t absolutely need to “French” the chops – trim the meat from the top part of the bone – but it looks nicer, and it is tidier to eat with your fingers. If you start with a rack of lamb – which is just lamb chops that haven’t been separated – the bones are often Frenched already. But you will need to slice the rack between the bones to separate it into individual chops.
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6-8 small lamb chops, about 600 grams (21 oz) in total
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20ml (4 tsp) light soy sauce
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20ml (4 tsp) rice wine
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¼ tsp fine sea salt
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¼ tsp granulated sugar
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2 medium garlic cloves, peeled
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4-6 thin slices peeled ginger
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1 tsp whole Sichuan peppercorns
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¾ tsp ground cumin
For the topping:
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15 grams (½ oz) fermented black beans
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3-4 garlic cloves, peeled
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4-6 thin slices peeled ginger
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2 red banana chillies, or another long, slender, mildly hot chilli
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2 green banana chillies, or another long, slender, mildly hot chilli
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1 medium-size carrot, about 100 grams (3½ oz)
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2-3 Asian cucumbers
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3-4 spring onions
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8 dried chillies, preferably Tianjin chillies
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1½ tsp whole cumin seeds
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Fine sea salt, as necessary
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About 15ml (1 tbsp) cooking oil, or more if necessary
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Chilli oil (optional)
1 If Frenching the chops, use a paring knife to scrape the meat from the top 2.5cm-5cm (1 in-2 in) of the bone.
2 Put the chops in a bowl and add the soy sauce, rice wine, salt and sugar. Mix well.
3 Cut the garlic cloves and ginger into thin shreds, then put them in the bowl with the lamb.
4 Pick out and discard any seeds and stems from the Sichuan peppercorns, leaving behind the husks. Put the husks in an unoiled skillet or a sesame seed toaster (a mesh pan with lid on a hinge, which prevents the ingredients from popping out) and toast over a low flame until fragrant, shaking the pan/toaster constantly. Cool to room temperature, then use a mortar and pestle to roughly grind them.
