Shuan Yang Rou

Ingredients

• 1 kg boneless lamb leg or shoulder, in one piece
• 2 litres water
• 4 spring onions, halved
• 6 slices fresh ginger
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tbsp dried shrimp
• 6 dried jujubes
• 500 g Chinese leaf, cut into wide pieces
• 300 g firm tofu, cubed
• 200 g sweet potato vermicelli
• 8 tbsp Chinese sesame paste
• 4 tbsp warm water
• 3 tbsp fermented red bean curd, mashed
• 3 tbsp chive flower sauce
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp chilli oil
• 1 large handful coriander, chopped
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced

Before you cook

• Freeze the lamb for about 3 hours, until firm all the way through but not rock solid.
• Slice the lamb as thinly as you possibly can, aiming for sheets you could read through.
• Lay the slices in loose ruffles on plates and keep them in the fridge.
• Soak the vermicelli in cold water for 20 minutes.
• Cut the Chinese leaf and cube the tofu.

Steps

1. Put the water, halved spring onions, ginger, shiitake, dried shrimp and jujubes into the hotpot and bring it to a rolling boil.
2. Loosen the sesame paste with the warm water, adding it a spoonful at a time until the paste pours like double cream.
3. Stir the mashed bean curd, chive flower sauce and soy sauce into the sesame paste.
4. Divide the sauce between six small bowls.
5. Top each bowl with chilli oil, coriander and sliced spring onion.
6. Set the boiling pot in the middle of the table over its burner.
7. Lay the plates of lamb, Chinese leaf, tofu and drained vermicelli around it.
8. Ask each person to hold two or three lamb slices in the broth for 8 to 10 seconds, until they turn from red to pale.
9. Dip the cooked lamb straight into the sesame sauce and eat it at once.
10. Drop the Chinese leaf, tofu and vermicelli into the pot once most of the lamb has gone.
11. Simmer them for 5 minutes.
12. Ladle the last of the broth into the sauce bowls and drink it.