Yang Rou Chuan (Roast Lamb Kebabs) were originally a traditional food in Xinjiang Province. Since then it has become the most popular street food all over China. Especially on summer evenings, you can find people with friends or family sitting or standing in front of a small roadside snack kiosk, having a plate of kebabs and a glass of cold beer.
When we were in Beijing, every once and a while, we would go to our favorite barbecue place, order some Yang Rou Chuan and other kind of kebabs, and of course, beer. We call it, the Chuan’er time.
Roast Lamb Kebabs – Yang Rou Chuan
Ingredients:500g lamb
5g prickly ash
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp cooking wine
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1 onion
cumin powder
chilli pepper powder
cooking oil
Method:
- Boil 2 cups of water, put the prickly ash in, turn to low heat. Keep boiling for 2 minutes, let the water cool down for later use. Cut the onion into small pieces.
- Cut the lamb into small cubes about 2 cm long on each side. Place in a bowl, add the prickly ash water, cooking oil, mix well and marinate for at least 15 minutes (the longer the better, I left it for 2 hours).
- Pour the water out, add 1/2 tsp of salt, ground white pepper, onion and 1 tbsp of cooking wine, mix well and marinate for 15 minutes.
- String the lamb cubes together on bamboo skewers. Brush a thin layer of oil on the meat, sprinkle a thin layer of chilli pepper powder, salt and cumin powder on the meat evenly. Place them on roasting net.
- Preheat the oven to 200℃ (grill). Put the meat under the grill for 5 minutes. Take the meat out, turn over and add the same ingredients as step 4. Put them back in the oven, turn the heat up to 220℃ for another 3 minutes. Take out and ready to eat.
Tips:
- Marbled lamb is the best choice for Kebabs.
- In steps 4 and 5, the order of adding the ingredients is very important.
