Lamb with hoisin sauce and noodles

A jar of hoisin sauce is a great thing to have in the fridge, but you need to add things to it to round out the flavour.

Serves 4 (doubles or halves easily). Ingredients Olive or vegetable oil 454g (1lb) of lamb pieces, cut into strips 1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced 2 tbsps of hoisin sauce 1 teaspoon of soy sauce 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar 12 mange toute Mint leaves, chopped 1/4 cucumber, cut into thin strips, skin on

    

Directions

1. Mix the hoisin sauce, soy sauce and rice vinegar together.  Fry the lamb strips in the olive oil, add the chilli and fry for 30 seconds, add the mange toute and fry for a minute. add the hoisin sauce mixture and stir fry, turning the meat in the sauce. Top with the mint leaves and serve with cucumber strips and rice or noodles.

Recipe note: You can use cooked turkey instead of lamb - just heat the turkey through in a wok or non-stick frying pan with a little vegetable or olive oil until it is hot, add the chilli and some mange toute, stir fry for 30 seconds, add the hoisin mixture, stir to coat the turkey and when everything is hot, serve it with rice or noodles. Don't serve the mint leaves or cucumber strips as they won't work with the flavour of turkey.

Mange Tout

From the French words mange (meaning eat) and tout (meaning all), the flat pods of mange tout are eaten whole. They are actually young peas still in the pod and picked before they have a chance to develop.
Seasonal availability: All year.
Uses: Delicious blanched and tossed in salad dressing, or steamed or stir-fried and served hot, they are extremely versatile. They can also be eaten raw in salads.
To store: Best eaten fresh, they can be kept in the fridge for a day.
To prepare: Top and tail the pods. Leave whole or slice, according to your recipe.
To cook: Cook in a steamer for 5-10 minutes or stir-fry until they are tender but still have some 'bite'. They can also be boiled in salted water for 2 minutes.