Pot-Fried Lamb (Chicken Style)
A dish shaped from minced lamb and strips of cooked lamb, battered and deep-fried to resemble chicken legs and wings.
Ingredients
Raw lamb leg meat
600 g (1 jin 2 liang)
Cooked lean lamb
200 g (4 liang)
Raw eggs
2
Cooked eggs
2
Water-starch slurry
to taste
Cooked flour
to taste
Refined oil
1 kg (about 150 g consumed)
Soy sauce
to taste
Salt
to taste
Sichuan pepper water
to taste
MSG
to taste
Chopped scallion
to taste
Minced ginger
to taste
Instructions
1
Prepare the Ingredients
Mix the raw lamb leg meat with salt, Sichuan pepper water, MSG, chopped scallion, minced ginger, and a little soy sauce, then pound into a smooth paste. Stir one egg white together with some water-starch slurry and fold into the meat paste; if the paste feels too stiff, add a little clear broth as needed. Cut the cooked lean lamb into strips about 4 fen wide — two strips 2 cun long and eight strips 2.5 cun long — then toss with soy sauce, salt, MSG, and Sichuan pepper water and let marinate briefly. Beat one whole egg with one egg yolk, add a little refined oil, then stir in water-starch slurry and cooked flour to form a slightly stiff egg-and-flour batter.
2
Shape and Steam
Lightly oil a plate. On it, lay one 2-cun cooked meat strip (to serve as the drumstick bone) and two 2.5-cun cooked meat strips (to serve as the thigh bones) to form a chicken-leg outline, then wrap with the lamb paste so the cooked strips peek out a little at the lower end; repeat to make two "drumsticks." Oil another plate, form an L-shape from two 2.5-cun cooked meat strips to mimic a chicken wing, wrap with the lamb paste, and set on the plate; repeat to make two "wings." Steam both plates until just cooked through and keep warm. Oil a third plate, spread about 7 liang (≈ 350 g) of the lamb paste into a fish-back shape of even thickness to resemble a chicken breast, steam for 20 minutes, then remove and slice lengthwise into two halves.
3
Batter and Deep-Fry
Heat about 1 kg (2 jin) of refined oil in a wok over high heat to roughly 70% hot. Dip the steamed "drumsticks" and "wings" one at a time in the egg-and-flour batter, then lower into the oil. Once the batter firms up, prick a few small holes with a fork to release steam, and continue frying until golden and cooked through. Drain well. Slice the two "drumsticks" crosswise into 4-fen-wide strips and arrange them on a large serving platter in their original shape, toward the lower edge of the plate. Cut each "wing" once down the middle and arrange on the platter in the same shape alongside the drumsticks.
