Recipe report: Ken's Hunan Lamb

Green label, Bill. Chili Garlic sauce.

I am bumping this -- after making it I filed it in my head as "easy Chinese" -- which it is because of the Lan Chi sauce really, which eliminates a few prep steps. At any rate, I learned that my neighbor was available to come over tonight and so we invited her for dinner and I knew I had lamb in the freezer. So I came home early and got it halfway defrosted (put it in water, and then let the microwave do its "auto defrost" thing for a few minutes). THEN I decided maybe I could cut it in half with the serrated bread knife. That went so well that I cut the whole thing up into tidy quarter inch slices and then made batons like Jenise had suggested. But now I have to look at the recipe.

I thought the vegetable portion of the dish was skimpy and I will be adding some stuff which might not be Hunan appropriate but which we like, snow peas, baby corn, baby zucchini, stuff I had lying around. Stretches the meat a little.

I'm kind of excited to be making this again, if you haven't tried it, as I said, it's easy with the right ingredients.

Which Lan Chi sauce is it? Was it on their website? I'll have a look for it.

Bill,

This is the Lan Chi Chili Paste With Garlic. It has the name in white capital letters on a green background.

There are other producers of the same sort of sauce (Lee Kum Kee, for example), but I have to agree with Jenise that the Lan Chi is top-shelf.

-Paul W.

I gave Jenise one of the alternatives, easily accessible locally and expect she will try it and report back any differences.

A couple of weeks ago I sent Jenise a care package with three jars of Lan Chi Chili Garlic Paste, so she's supplied for a while.

-Paul W.

Jenise - time to do a garlic sauce test and see if the two brands are equivalent!

I thought the vegetable portion of the dish was skimpy and I will be adding some stuff which might not be Hunan appropriate but which we like, snow peas, baby corn, baby zucchini, stuff I had lying around. Stretches the meat a little.

I'm kind of excited to be making this again, if you haven't tried it, as I said, it's easy with the right ingredients.

Frank, I normally cook this dish with other Chinese dishes that have more vegetables. However, adding vegetables to the recipe is a great idea. All Chinese recipes are just guides anyway. Make them the way that makes you happy. Glad you enjoyed it.

My neighbor was VERY impressed, thanks so much Ken!!

FWIW I made Japanese Koshihikari rice -- so wrong, but so good...

[Jenise]

A couple of weeks ago I sent Jenise a care package with three jars of Lan Chi Chili Garlic Paste, so she's supplied for a while.

-Paul W.

I've already used up half a jar.