Crispy Mongolian Lamb with Pancakes

I bought a rolled lamb breast from Farm Direct as it was so cheap (only 1.99 for 576g) but then I had to figure out what to do with it. I really like lamb but I've never cooked it before. Luckily for me, I found this recipe shortly after my experiment with crispy duck with pancakes, so there were leftover pancakes, cucumber and spring onion in the fridge already. With a little tweaking, my kitchen already had everything I needed. Game on!

Crispy Mongolian Lamb with Pancakes

Adapted from Around Britain with a Paunch
Serves two

50ml of dark soy sauce
100ml of Chinese wine
1 large chunk of ginger, peeled and cut into pieces
1 seeded red chilli
2 sticks of Chinese cinnamon
2 star anise
1 tablespoon of Chinese five spice
500g of rolled lamb breast (I had 576g)
Enough water to cover
3 dried Chinese mushrooms
1 tablespoon of brown sugar

The day before you want to eat this, chuck everything into a large saucepan and then cover with enough water to ensure the lamb is just submerged. Simmer for 3 hours with the lid on.

Remove the lamb and place it in a bowl. Cover in cling film and chill until needed. Strain the remaining, fatty liquid into a separate bowl, cover in cling film and chill.

Remove the bowls from the fridge. Lift the layer of solidified fat, which will look like a slab of white chocolate, off the sauce and discard. Pour the liquid into a sauté pan and reduce until it becomes syrupy. (My liquid never quite reached the syrupy stage. Ended up mixing it with a little bit of Peking duck sauce so it was a better consistency for spreading as it was too thin on its own.)

Shred the lamb and shake some salt over it (I forgot to salt mine but it was fine). Then place under the grill for around 10 minutes, mixing up the pieces every 2-3 minutes, until it crisps up.

Spread some crispy lamb in a pancake and accompany it with some sliced spring onions and cucumber before anointing with the dark sticky sauce. Devour.