The best months to visit Xinjiang are July, August, and September as Autumn is the season of harvest. Not only you will enjoy Xinjiang’s stunning Autumn sceneries, cultural activities, but you will also get to really experience the taste of Xinjiang. Check what is the Top 10 Things To Do in Xinjiang.

So back to our dish today. As a tradition, Uyghur people would sit together at a big table to feast, chat, dance, and sing during the New Year. Uyghur lamb pilaf (shouzhuafan) would be served to all the guests. The host would bring clean water and towels for all the guests to wash their hands so they can eat with their fingers, hence the “手抓饭（shǒu zhuā fàn）” in Chinese which literally means “hand grab rice”. 

For this recipe, we are going to use the leftover Chinese-style roasted lamb from the previous night. Isn’t it the best when the food we cook can just keep giving?! 

Traditional Uyghur lamb pilaf will only require carrots and onion. But as a vegetable lover, I always like to toss what I have in the fridge in the mix when I have the chance.

What you need to cook Uyghur Lamb Pilaf

You will need the ingredients in the image below to make this delicious dish. On top of all this, you’ll need rice, of course.

Now on the recipe!

Uyghur Lamb Pilaf (Shouzhuafan) Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: RiceCuisine: Chinese, UyghurDifficulty: Super Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

This recipe shows you how to make Uyghur Lamb Pilaf, a perfect recipe to take advantage of any leftovers you have from another lamb dish.

Ingredients

• Roughly 200g roasted lamb leftovers

• The lamb juice and oil from the leftovers

• 2 celery sticks

• 2 x medium-sized carrots

• A handful of dwarf beans

• 1 medium-sized potato

• 1 tbsp dark soy

• 1 tsp sugar

• ½ tsp ground cumin

• 1 cup rice

• Salt to taste

Directions

• Wash all the vegetables, peel the potato and carrots. Cut them all into small cubes (roughly 1cm x1cm).
• Soak potato in the water while we prepare other ingredients.
• Cut the leftover lamb into small cubes too, or bigger if you prefer a chunkier texture.
• Set your pressure cooker to browning (you can also do this in a frying pan), put in the leftover lamb oil and juice you have collected from last night, and heat it up. Add in the chopped lamb cubes, let it cook.
• Add in all of your vegetables, let it cook. Make sure to mix well during cooking.
• Rinse 1 cup of rice with water first (Asian habit :p), drain. Add the rinsed rice to the mix and pour water until it reaches the top of all of your ingredients. Add ½ tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp dark soy, salt to taste and mix well.
• Set your pressure cooker to the “rice” option and let modern technology does its magic. One more tip, don’t rush to open the pressure cooker after the cooking process is completed. It is better to let all the steam settle and be absorbed by the rice. I usually let it sit for 20-30 minutes before serving.
• That’s it. All done. Garnish it however you like and you have a full meal again! How awesome is that! I like to eat mine with Laoganma chilli oil, and Yanni prefers to enjoy his Shouzhuafan (Uyghur polo) with some Greek yoghurt. Let us know how do you prefer to enjoy yours in the comment 请慢用 (qǐng màn yòng)

Try It Yourself!

And there you have it! You now know how to make Uyghur lamb pilaf out of your lamb leftovers. Give it a try and let us know how it went by sounding off in the comments below. If you do make this recipe, we’d love to see the results so post it on Instagram and tag us @linschinesekitchen.

The post Uyghur Lamb Pilaf (Shouzhuafan) Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.

So, we have always loved our roasted lamb with hand-made Xinjiang yoghurt when we ate out back in China. As a creative person and a seasoned food lover, I had an epiphany when we passed by the Greek food truck in the city centre one day. Why don’t we combine the legendary Greek Tzatziki with the Chinese-styled roast lamb? Boy am I so grateful that I tried this! Hold your socks, because the combination plus the scallions bread will KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF!

To make this meal we have three main objects.

1. Chinese-styled roast lamb
2. Scallions bread
3. Greek Tzatziki

Chinese-style Roast Lamb, Scallion Bread and Greek Tzatziki Fusion Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: FeastsCuisine: Chinese, GreekDifficulty: Medium

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

1

hour 

Cooking time

2

hours 

This Chinese-Greek fusion recipe shows you how to make a Chinese-style roasted lamb leg and pair it with traditional Greek tzatziki and scallion bread.

Ingredients

• ​​Chinese-style Roast Lamb Leg

• Lamb leg x 1 (1.2 -2 kg)

• Salt to taste

• Cumin powder generously

• Chilli flakes to taste

• Scallion Bread

• 500g plain flour

• 1+1/4 cups warm water (30-37°C)

• 1 tsp sugar

• 1 tbsp dry yeast

• 3 x scallions

• 1/3 cups of plain flour

• ½ cups of vegetable oil

• ½ tsp Wangshouyi 13 Spices Mix

• Salt to taste

• Greek Tzatziki

• 250g Greek yoghurt

• 2 cloves of garlic

• ½ lemon

• ½ cucumber

• ½ tsp olive oil

• Salt to taste

Directions

• Lamb
• The lamb will take the longest time, so let’s start with this. I got my lamb leg from Sainsbury, for three of us, it is more than enough. Dry the fresh lamb leg with paper towels. Generously sprinkle salt, powdered cumin, and chilli flakes (if you like it spicy) all over your lamb leg. Massage it well.
• Wrap it in foil and poke some holes on top with a toothpick.
• Pre-heat the oven at 200°C with the fan. Put the lamb in and let it cook for 1.5 hours.
• Carefully remove the top of the foil after, and put it back in the oven at 180°C for a further 15 mins to give the meat a nice brown colour while inside remains tender and juicy.
• Scallion Bread
• To make this bread you will need, 500g plain flour, 1+¼ cups warm water (30-37°C), 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp dry yeast, 3 scallions (spring onions), ½ tsp Wangshouyi 13 Spices Mix.
• To make the dough, add 500g plain flour, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp dry yeast in a big container, mix well. Add 1+¼ cups of warm water in three batches, mix well, and kneed the dough. It should be quite soft at this point, if it sticks to your hands, just keep kneading until which clean and dry hands, the dough won’t stick anymore. Cover with a lid or cling film. Let it rest until the dough puffs up to twice the size.
• While we wait for our dough, let’s make the scallions oil paste (油酥 yóu sū）. Finely chop 3 scallions (spring onions), place them in a bowl. Add ⅓ cups of flour, ½ Wangshouyi 13 Spices Mix, and a few shakes of salt in the bowl. Mix well.
• Heat up ½ cup of vegetable oil to around 140°C and pour it into the scallions and flour mix.
• Mix well and set it aside to cool.
• Our dough should be ready within 15-30 mins, depending on your room temperature. Once it is ready, kneed again to release the bubbles formed inside the dough. Cut the dough into 5 pieces (should be roughly a handful). Kneed it again with some flour on your working surface to sort it into a round shape.
• Take your rolling pin to roll it into a flat piece roughly 2mm thick. Cut like shown in the image and gently spread the scallions oil paste on the top.
• Roll it up from the edges towards the centre.
• Roll again from one side to the other and tuck the tail underneath.
• Flatten it with your hand or a rolling pin.
• Warm-up a crepe pan with medium heat and spray some vegetable/sunflower oil. Place our bread on top when the oil is heated. Cook until one side is nicely browned and flip it to cook the other side.
• Greek Tzatziki
• To make this classic dairy-based sauce, you will need 250g Greek yoghurt, 2 cloves of garlic, ½ lemon, ½ cucumber, ½ tsp olive oil, and salt to your taste.
• Grate ½ cucumber and drain the juice, leave it in a bowl. Mince 2 cloves of garlic and juice the ½ lemon. Add all of that into the bowl with 250g Greek yoghurt, ½ tsp olive oil, and some salt to your taste.
• Mix well. Cover it with cling film and put it in your fridge for later use.
• By the end of your lamb browning process, you should have the bread and tzatziki ready to serve. Now is a good time to pull off a quick salad of your choice. I decided to go with a bit of tropical taste, so I made a simple but refreshing Pineapple and Avocado salad.
• The best way to enjoy this meal is to get a piece of bread, layer a piece of juicy lamb, and top it up with a generous spoon of tzatziki. Heavenly! 您慢用（nín màn yòng）

Got Leftovers?

This recipe involves using a fair bit of lamb, so there are bound to be leftovers. But, don’t worry. We got you covered! You can use the leftover lamb you have to make a delicious Uyghur Lamb Pilaf.

China Travel Tips for Foodies

If you plan to travel to Beijing, there are quite a few restaurants you could visit for authentic Xinjiang cuisines. 

Muslim Cuisine (清真美食苑 qīng zhēn měi shí yuàn）

Address: No.14 yard, Zaojunmiao, Haidian District, Beijing

Phone: 010-62115556

Their beef and lamb are all freshly delivered from Bazhou, Xinjiang. Customers could order their house-special yogurt to go with their roasted lamb. 

Xinjiang Restaurant（新疆饭庄 xīn jiāng fàn zhuāng）

Address: North side of the No.5 Building, Chegongzhuang Street North No.1, Xicheng District, Beijing

Phone: 010-68362795

Their meat and fruit are all freshly delivered from Xinjiang, you could really taste the difference.

AFANDIM UYGHUR CUISINE （阿凡提新疆餐厅 ā fán tí xīn jiāng cān tīng）

Address: No.2A Houguaibang Hutong, No.188 Chaoyangmennei Avenue, Dongcheng District Beijing

Phone: 010-65272288/ 010-65251071

It is run by native Uighur people from Xinjiang, the highlight of your dinner experience (besides the delicious food of course) comes when beautiful Uighur women present you with stunning Arabian Nigh dance in their traditional costumes. 

Try It Yourself!

And there you have it! This feast is a blend of the two cultures in our family and we absolutely love it. Give it a go and let us know what you think in the comments below. If you make it, be sure to snap a picture and post it on Instagram and tag us @linschinesekitchen.

The post Chinese-style Roast Lamb, Scallion Bread and Greek Tzatziki Fusion Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.