Hung Shao Lamb

Ingredients

• Servings: 1
• 1 lb lean belly lamb strips, chopped into postage stamp sized squares if you like but it's not really necessary. (other cheap cuts of lamb are also good; try the hock. and leave the skin on; it goes gelatinous and)
• 4 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons tamari
• to taste oyster sauce, one big splodge
• 1 inch fresh gingerroot, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise
• 1 teaspoon szechuan peppercorns, dry fried
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup sherry wine (optional)
• 1 pinch msg (if, like me, you have no shame. just please don't mention this to my mother.) (optional)

Recipe

• 1 stir-fry ginger and garlic in a big casserole dish.
• 2 place lamb in, skin down.
• 3 (pluck it with tweezers first if it bears an unhealthy resemblance to your husband's back). add everything else and a couple of cups of water.
• 4 cover and simmer over a very low heat for an hour.
• 5 turn the lamb over.
• 6 simmer again for an hour.
• 7 fish the meat out and put it in a bowl.
• 8 reduce sauce a bit, taste, and add more soy/oyster sauce if you think it's needed.
• 9 strain through a sieve, pour over meat and enjoy.
• 10 i like to leave the meat, covered with the sauce, in the fridge for at least 24 hours before eating; the flavours intensify to a surprising extent. (it's also easier to remove fat from the top at this stage, when it's set.) serve with rice; it's also good in sandwiches.
• 11 (the cold sauce turns into a delicious jelly.)