Not A Lame Lamb Gamble

My mum made braised lamb shanks for Christmas Eve dinner. It tasted pretty impressive. What was even more impressive to me was that she cooked the dish from a recipe she had never tried before, and which she was making up as she went along! For Christmas Eve dinner too! I thought that was taking quite a high risk. I never knew my mum was such a “gambler”. But I should have remembered how good a cook my mum is. The recipe was simple, yet really tasty and everyone loved it.

She blanched 4 pieces of lamb shanks (bone-in) in a large pot of boiling water for about 1-2 minutes. They were drained and then trimmed of all excess/visible fat. It is much easier to remove the fat after blanching the meat, rather than before. The shanks could at this point be either refrigerated for later use or cooked immediately.

Around 4 large onions (more if you prefer) were cut into strips and sautéed in hot oil for just a few minutes – until they were just starting to become tender. They were removed from the wok, making sure to drain the oil back into the wok. These were set aside for later use.

Using the oil that was used to sauté the onions, the lamb shanks were placed in the wok, and seared on all sides on high heat. The seasonings were then added: red wine or Chinese rice wine (I think my mum only used about 6 tablespoons of the latter, but I think if using red wine, more could be added), around 4 tablespoons sweet dark soy sauce, around 4 tablespoons light soy sauce, approximately 2 tablespoons sugar, pepper, 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce and 1 tablespoon zhu hao jiang. This last marinade sauce does not have an English name. I also do not think it has any equivalent substitute. It is very often used by chefs in Chinese restaurants for ribs, stews, braised beef briskets or tendons (as in ngau lam mein / beef brisket noodles) and other meat dishes. It is a very versatile sauce which is rarely used on its own, but combined with other sauces and flavorings to form different marinades. It can be bought from Kwong Cheong Thye at 63, Geylang Lor 27, and is made from their well-guarded proprietary recipe.

Once the seasonings have been added, around 4 cups (I think) of beef stock (or water would be fine too) was added, and allowed to come to a boil. The lamb shanks were left to simmer on low heat, covered, for around 3½ hours or until the meat was very tender (almost falling off the bone).

5-10 minutes before the lamb was ready, the previously sautéed onions were added back into the pot, to allow them to cook down a little together with the lamb, and to allow their flavors to meld with those of the lamb. The short cooking time for the onions prevents them from cooking down too much and dissolving completely into the gravy.

Finally, right at the end, the lamb was brought to a boil again, and a little cornflour solution was added to thicken the gravy. Once the gravy comes to a rolling boil again, the heat was removed.

The onions were nicely soft, with a rich caramelized flavor even though they were only briefly sautéed and cooked for only 10 minutes with the lamb. They had absorbed the full richness of all the flavors of the gravy, and went perfectly with the lamb.

We served this with traditional Chinese steamed mantou and also chunks of crusty French baguette. Both worked really well, and were great for mopping up the delicious gravy.

Kudos to my mum. This was one lamb “gamble” that did not turn out lame! This recipe is definitely going into my personal collection of favorite recipes!

Copyright © 2003 Renee Kho. All rights reserved.
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