If you’ve been to New York, perhaps you’ve heard of Xi’an Famous Foods. This restaurant is legendary for its cumin lamb noodles and Chinese pork burgers. And if you haven’t been, until you can come here and experience them yourself, you can make them in your own kitchen. This dish is definitely not a weeknight dinner if you want to make it with homemade hand-pulled noodles, but it is absolutely worth every effort. In the original recipe, the secret sauce for cumin lamb noodles uses 30 spices! Don’t worry, my version of cumin lamb noodles takes an easier approach to recreating this heavenly and boldly flavored dish that tastes just as great. My version of cumin lamb noodles also uses ingredients that are closer to what I found when I was traveling in Xi’an. I added cilantro and skipped out on the celery and cabbage that the restaurant uses in its famous recipe. But one thing I didn’t skip is making the hand-pulled noodles. That’s what really gives this dish the Xi’an Famous Foods’ flavor and style. I have a recipe for hand-pulled noodles and I promise, they are really easy to make, even if you’ve never made homemade noodles or pasta before in your life. And believe me, they taste so much better. You’ll see!
Lamb meat & cutting method
What cut of lamb to use
A well-marbled cut is the best, such as loin or shoulder. However, a tender and fatty cut might be hard to come by. You can ask your local butcher for a recommendation depending on the availability. If they carry large pieces of stew meat, you might be able to cut them into slices and use them in this recipe.
How to cut lamb meat
Handling the lamb meat properly is key to making a great plate of stir fry. Sometimes you might get a cut with a lot of connective tissue, like the lamb shoulder I got from Whole Foods. It’s important to remove these tough white parts and membrane-like layers. Otherwise they will end up very tough and chewy once cooked.
Ingredients
To get the best taste, we used whole spices, dry roast them to release fragrance, then grind them fresh. It doubles the fragrance you usually get from using ground spices. I highly recommend you to do the same for this dish. It’s also very important to cut and prepare all the ingredients before you start cooking. Lamb meat is prone to overcooking and will taste like dry cardboard if you do not move fast enough during the cooking. NOTE: Sorry I forgot to include the cut cilantro in the photo below!
Alternative to hand-pulled noodles
If you do not want to make hand-pulled noodles, the best alternative is the wide semi-fresh noodles. You can usually get them at an Asian market’s refrigerated section. They might be labeled “pulled noodles”, “planed noodles”, “sliced noodles”, or “cut noodles”. There are several brands I like including the package shown below. You can usually judge by the look of the noodles, they are fatty and wide.
Cooking process
Once you’re done prepping, the actual cooking process is actually super fast.
Chili oil alert
This dish is a phenomenal and indulgent treat. You’ll ‘WOW’ guests at a dinner gathering or have a wonderful dinner for two on the weekend. However, be advised that this is NOT a diet-friendly dish. Cumin lamb noodles use a lot of homemade chili oil (half a cup, as a matter of fact!) to create the sauce just like the restaurant’s. I get it that might be a lot of oil for you, but you can reduce it to 1/4 cup and simply add more when you serve it. Don’t worry…homemade chili oil is not super spicy so you won’t wind up with more heat than you can handle, just bold-tasting flavors in every bite. PS. Xi’an Famous Foods Will release a cookbook on Oct 17th, 2020. I’ve pre-ordered and I can’t wait to compare my version with theirs. And of course, learning all the recipes of my favorite dishes from the restaurant. Check out their book if you like the food as much as I do!
Serve Cumin Lamb Noodles with
Chinese Pickled Cabbage (A Quick Pickle Recipe) Easy Chinese Cucumber Salad (拍黄瓜) Chinese Sauteed Potato Chinese Egg Drop Soup Mom’s Best Pork Dumplings with Cabbage
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More delicious Chinese noodle recipes
Da Pan Ji (Chicken Potato Stew with Noodles, 大盘鸡) The Best Chinese Noodle Sauce (Da Lu Mian, 打卤面) Ding Ding Chao Mian (丁丁炒面, Fried Noodles in Lamb Tomato Sauce) Real Deal Sesame Noodles Chinese Beef Noodle Soup (红烧牛肉面) Dan Dan Noodles Beef Pan-Fried Noodles
Lilja Walter is a part of the Omnivore’s Cookbook team and worked closely with Maggie to develop and test this recipe.
