Roots and Grubs

Petite meat

Posted by mamster on Saturday, July 19, 2008

Years ago I reviewed a restaurant with the awesome name of Jack’s Tapas Café, Mainly Chinese. My favorite dish there was a stir-fry of lamb and napa cabbage, with lots of rice vinegar.

I could eat stir-fried napa cabbage every day, but for some reason I’d never gotten around to recreating this recipe at home until last night. I thought it was great, and it makes a little meat (about $3 worth, in this case) go a long way. (Iris ate about half the lamb, but I was happy with spicy cabbage and rice.)

Here’s the way I made it last night, and I was very happy with it; obviously you can adjust this any way you like.

SOUR NAPA CABBAGE WITH LAMB
Serves 2 to 3 with rice

1 lamb shoulder chop, fat and bones discarded, meat sliced thin
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice wine
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 large carrot, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 small onion, thinly sliced
half a medium head of napa cabbage, shredded
1 clove garlic, minced

For the sauce:
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons rice wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon chile-garlic sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch

1. Stir together the sauce ingredients until the sugar dissolves, and set aside. Stir the 1 teaspoon each of soy sauce and rice wine into the lamb.

2. Heat the peanut oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high until it begins to smoke. Add the lamb and cook until well-browned but still slightly pink in spots, about 1 minute. Remove to a bowl, reserving the oil in the pan.

3. Add the carrot and onion to the pan and cook until the carrot slices are well browned on both sides, about 2 minutes. Add the cabbage and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is markedly reduced in volume and well browned in places, about 2 minutes. Add the reserved lamb and sauce and cook, stirring, until the sauce is thickened and coats the meat and vegetables, about 1 minute. Serve immediately with steamed rice.

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