Cumin lamb (ziran yangrou) meal-prep bowls with smashed cucumber
17 min · 40 g protein · 311 cals / serving
The Xi'an street-food favourite as a batch of lunches: thin slices of lean lamb seared hard and tossed with a pile of cumin, chilli flakes, red onion, garlic and cilantro, dry and fragrant rather than saucy, over cauliflower rice, with a cold garlicky smashed cucumber salad on the side.
Ingredients
Base
- 2 bags (12 oz each) cauliflower rice, frozen
- 1/3 tsp salt
Smashed cucumber
- 1 large cucumber, smashed and cut in chunks
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/3 tsp salt
Cumin lamb
- 1 1/2 lb lamb roast, raw, lamb leg steaks or stir-fry strips, sliced thin across the grain
- 1 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp canola oil, divided
- 1 1/2 tbsp ground cumin, or whole cumin seeds, coarsely crushed
- 1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or Sichuan chilli flakes
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 1 small bunch fresh cilantro, roughly chopped, stems too
- 2 green onions, cut in 3 cm (1-inch) lengths
Steps
- Microwave the cauliflower rice in its bags (or in a covered bowl) as the packet says, about 5–6 minutes, until just tender. Tip it into a sieve and press out the water with a spoon; dry cauliflower rice is what keeps the bowls from turning soggy by day three. Stir in the salt.
- Toss the cucumber with the rice vinegar, garlic, sesame oil and salt and leave it in the fridge.
- Toss the lamb with the soy sauce and cornstarch until every slice is coated.
- Heat half the oil in your largest skillet over high heat until it smokes. Add half the lamb in one layer and sear 1 minute a side until browned; lift out and repeat with the rest of the oil and lamb. Add the onion to the pan for 1 minute, then the cumin, chilli flakes and garlic for 20 seconds until fragrant. Return the lamb with the salt and toss 1 minute, until it is coated and the pan is dry. Off the heat, toss in the cilantro and green onion.
- Divide the cauliflower rice and lamb between four containers; drain the cucumber and pack it separately so it stays crisp.
Good to know
Whole cumin seeds or ground?
Whole seeds, toasted for a minute in the dry pan and crushed in a mortar, are what the street stalls use and give the crunchy, aromatic edge; ground cumin from the jar works and is quicker. If you have Sichuan peppercorns, a teaspoon crushed in with the cumin adds the numbing tingle.
Which lamb?
Leg is lean and tender when sliced thin; shoulder is the more traditional, fattier cut. Partly frozen meat slices much more thinly, so 20 minutes in the freezer helps if you cut your own (that time is not in the 20 minutes).
Per
- Calories
- 73
- Protein
- (51%)
- 9 g
- Fat
- (30%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (19%)
- 4 g
- of which sugar
- 1 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 204 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1246 kcal goes into the pot and 1936 g of ingredients comes out as about 1715 g of food: 73 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.