Uyghur polo, also commonly referred to as Uyghur lamb pilaf in the west or Shouzhuafan (手抓饭 shǒu zhuā fàn）in China, is a traditional Uyghur dish, which involves lamb, rice and vegetables. If you want to taste the best Uyghur dish, a trip to Xinjiang Province when you visit China is much needed.
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
Course: RiceCuisine: Chinese, UyghurDifficulty: Super Easy4
servings10
minutes40
minutesThis 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.
