Hunan-Style Lamb

Lamb is not a standard item on southern Chinese menus. It is much more common in northern and central China. The prejudice against lamb may be discerned in a southern proverb: ‘There are seventy-two ways of cooking lamb; most of them result in something quite unpalatable’.

But this is unfair to lamb. As this recipe shows, it lends itself to imaginative uses. Hunan (the birth-province of Mao) is famous for its rather fiery cuisine. Chilli bean and hoisin sauces, as in this recipe, ar