Shortcut Mala Cumin Lamb for Biang Biang Noodles
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To be clear, these are not your traditional or typical Xi’an cumin lamb noodles. If you are looking for a recipe for those, I am afraid you have come to the wrong place (especially since this is not really a recipe at all). I love those noodles too, and have very fond, special memories of trying them for the first time at Xi’an Famous Foods during a solo trip to New York, being blown away about how they somehow exceeded the hype.
But while this recipe is obviously inspired by those flavors, I personally don’t like the idea of trying to replicate a specific restaurant dish at home. Maybe that’s just me. Restaurant cookbooks are gorgeous to look at, but I never buy them. I am happy to accept the reality that the force of my home gas range is never going to replicate that of a restaurants, my 0 days of professional culinary training is not going to produce the same outcome as those who have studied and devoted their lives to the culinary arts. And anyway, I like (liked—before Covid) the idea of going to a restaurant to eat dishes that are wholly different from what I can cook myself at home.
So I am calling this my Cumin Lamb Noodles, but they are very different cumin lamb noodles from what you’ve likely to experienced in a restaurant before. They are a sort of hybrid of a Xi’an-inspired dish and the texture of bolognese but also heavy on the mala (numbing spicy) associated with Szechuan cuisine. Using ground lamb means not worrying about sliced meat getting tough and overcooked, and it almost becomes a part of the sauce—something that can cling to those wide swaths of noodles. I use this storebought mala hot pot mix (link) for the base of the sauce because I am not an expert at Chinese spice blends in the slightest and this is a shortcut recipe, after all.
I really do recommend that you make your own wide biang biang noodles for this (recipe here) but if you are too lazy or don’t have time, I totally get it. Due to their short-lived nature, I have never seen biang biang noodles sold at the Asian grocery store before, so if you are looking for a storebought alternative to use with this sauce, I recommend buying fresh pappardelle.
The recipe below is awkwardly vague because I really don’t believe in measuring when it comes to sauces for noodles. Let it guide you in your interest in making a Xi’an x Szechuan x bolognese hybrid, but be sure to adjust the seasoning to your taste.
Awkwardly Vague instructions for Ground Lamb Cumin Noodles
Ingredients
3/4 lb ground lamb
1/2 small onion, sliced
lots of chopped garlic
lots of cumin
salt
a squeeze of tomato paste
~ 1 oz Szechuan mala hot pot base (like this one)
a heaping tablespoon of gochugaru
avocado oil
cilantro, for garnish
raw hand pulled noodles
Procedure
In a wok, heat oil and stirfry onions. Add lamb and garlic. Season with pinch of salt, lots of cumin. Squeeze in some tomato paste and mix everything together.
Heat some oil (1/6 cup-ish) in separate pot until almost smoking.
At the same time, turn down wok to low heat and cook biang biang noodles in pot of boiling water as described in the noodle recipe.
Add cooked noodles on top of lamb.
Add Szechuan hot pot sauce and gochugaru. Pour hot oil on top of gochugaru.
Toss to combine. Garnish with cilantro.
