Cantonese Style Lamb and Daikon Stew in Chu Hou Paste
柱候羊肉蘿蔔煲
It’s getting significantly colder recently and every year around this time, lamb would be seen in farmer’s market in Hong Kong. Lamb is considered ‘warm’ food in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It’s generally too warm to have lamb in spring, summer and even autumn in Canton and Hong Kong. Thus lamb is only considered seasonal in winter for it can make the inner body ‘warmer’.
What is Chu Hou Paste/Sauce(柱候醬)
There are usually two ways to cook lamb in Cantonese style, one in soup with Chinese medicine, such as jujube dates, goji berries, dang shen and etc, one braised in rich sauce, Chu Hou paste is the most favourable. Chu Hou paste is one of the most used Cantonese seasoning sauces. It’s a garlicky and spicy sauce with fermented soybean paste as the base. It’s usually used in braising fat meat, such as goose, duck, lamb, beef brisket or pork knuckle.
What cut of lamb
Cantonese would prefer lamb brisket or breast for lamb stew. It even won’t be deboned. It’s a fat cut of lamb so in such stew, radish or tofu sheet would be added in for absorbing the fat. Or give it a good blanch to remove some excess fat before braising. You could look for such cut in Chinese grocery store or ask your local butcher for help. But don’t worry, lamb shoulder is perfect for any types of lamb stew. I sometimes use lamb shoulder as well.
Ingredients – serve 2
- Lamb, 500g, breast or shoulder
- Asian white radish / daikon, 500g
- Carrot, 200g
- Garlic sprout, 2 stalks. This is not for garnishing, if unavailable, use leek
- Ginger, 30g
- Bay leave, 2
- Chu Hou paste, 2tbsp
- Nam-yu sauce / red fermented bean curd sauce, 2tbsp from the jar.
I introduced this ingredient and some recipes with it as the key seasoning ingredient in my latest posts. Read more – Red Fermented Beancurd (Nam-yu) – pork and chili stir-fry. If you don’t want to obtain a big jar of nam-yu just for one recipe, just simply use light soy sauce
- Chinese cooking wine, half cup
- Sugar, 1tsp
- Chinese lettuce, optional, or lettuce
- Fried tofu sheet roll, optional, or dry tofu sheet roll, soak in water for about 10 minutes till it’s soft to cut
How to do –
- Lamb chopped to big chunks; radish and carrot peeled and chopped in rolling cut; ginger peeled and thickly sliced; garlic sprout washed, cut off the tough part on the edge, then cut to matchstick;
2. Blanch the lamb – put plenty of cold water in a pot with lamb and 2 slices of ginger, bring to boil, drained, and wash the meat thoroughly in clean water;
3. In a wok, heat 1tbsp of oil in medium-high heat, stir-fry the lamb and the rest ginger slices till golden;
4. Put in the rest seasoning ingredients – bay leave, chu-hou paste, nam-yu sauce, cooking wine, sugar, stir-fry till fragrant;
5. Pour in water till lamb is mostly covered, bring to boil and have a taste, it should taste just right, or you might adjust with more salt or sugar. In medium heat, simmer for half an hour;
6. Put in the carrot and radish, simmer for 20 more minutes; Put in the garlic sprout at last and cook for 5 more minutes;
7. It can be served in a preheated clay pot or cast iron pot, with steamed rice. In a simple Cantonese hotpot style, serve in a bigger pot with portable stove, once half pot of lamb is finished, put in Chinese lettuce and fried tofu sheet roll, a little more water or cooking wine if necessary, let them cook gently in the sauce.
用料
- 羊腩 500克（2人份）
- 白萝卜 500克
- 胡萝卜 200克
- 蒜苗 2根
- 姜 30克
- 香叶 2片
- 柱候酱 2汤匙
- 南乳汁 2汤匙
- 料酒 5汤匙
- 糖 1茶匙
- 炸支竹 2根
- 生菜 半斤
做法
- 羊肉选用自己喜欢的部位，羊腩偏肥但很香，羊腿肉多，我有时候也会用羊腿，可以叫摊主帮忙剁成大块；
- 除了柱候酱以外，我还加了南乳汁，如果没有南乳的朋友可以用生抽代替。如果有的话尽量用南乳汁，南乳酒香浓郁，炆肉有独特的香味；
- 萝卜切滚刀块，姜去皮切厚片，蒜苗切段；
- 凉水下羊肉、2块姜片，煮沸后捞去浮沫，再仔细用清水洗净；
- 热炒锅，放一点油，放入羊肉和姜片，用中大火煸至出油，表面略金黄；
- 放入香叶、柱候酱、南乳汁、料酒、糖，炒香；
- 加水至几乎没过羊肉，大火煮沸后尝味，按自己的喜好再加盐和糖调味；转中火炆煮半小时；
- 放入萝卜，再继续炆煮20分钟；最后放入蒜苗，炆煮5分钟即可关火，不需要收汁；
- 一般会转至砂锅或铁锅，上菜的时候小火加热，除了能保持菜的热度以外，味道也会越煮越浓；通常我们会先把羊肉吃一半，然后放生菜和炸支竹进去一起煮，如果酱汁收得过干可以多加一点点水或酒。
