Tung-Po Mutton

Name: Tung-Po Mutton
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: 4 spring onions/scallions, cut into 5cm/2in lengths; 1 meat stock/bouillon cube; 130 g/4½ oz carrots, cut into bitesize pieces; 130 g/4½ oz potatoes, cut into bitesize pieces; 5 ml/1 tsp sugar; 30 ml/2 tbsp soy sauce; 15 ml/1 tbsp vegetable oil; 25 g/1 oz grated fresh root ginger; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; 2.5 ml/½ tsp ground Sichuan peppercorns; a pinch of Chinese five-spice powder; 400 g/14 oz lean mutton or lamb; vegetable oil, for deep-frying

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

China

By Terry Tan

Published 2020

About

Su Tung-Po was a famous poet and gourmet of the Song Dynasty who lived in Hangzhou. This dish, which is attributed to him, has crossed many borders. Muslims from Shandong tweaked the original pork dish to suit their tastes, eschewing pork and alcohol, both of which are forbidden by Islam edict. They also bulked it up with potatoes and carrots to make a substantial winter dish. Curiously, the mutton version seems to have become more mainstream than the pork in many restauran