Lagman

Ever since I went to a Uyghur restaurant (now closed) I have been a fan of a dish called lamb lagman. More recenlty I attempted to approximate the meal at home. It took a while but I’m now making something I enjoy eating.

These are the ingredients for a vegetarian version.

* A few field mushrooms chopped into chunks sauteed in water with Vegemite dissolved into it. Seems odd but I think this makes the fungus just a bit more tasty.

* Diced onion, celery and capsicum. By coincidence this is the trinity of Cajun cuisine. I started chopping them rather finely but more recently have allowed larger chunks. I also play with varying the colour combinations using particular varieties.

* Diced tomato - this was the missing ingredient for me. I somehow overlooked it from my restaurant experience till I looked at recipes online. A modest amount gives the dish the necessary degree of tangy wetness.

* Soft noodles like udon that are cut into finger-length pieces. Nothing will ever have the texture I encounted of those pulled noodles at the restaurant so this is the best I have managed.

* Garlic, ginger, coriander, soy sauce, harissa spice mix and sesame oil are the rest of the ingredients.

I combine these in various ways at various stages in the cooking. I'm far from sure that this matters all that much. I suspect that many things which are codified in cookery are just done for the heck of it and what works for you is all that needs to work.

Have I succeeded in combining the spiciness of Turkic food with the textures of Chinese food? That is a simplification but, even if accurate, I cannot be sure I have. However, my results are indeed tasty.