Asian Lamb with Hot & Sour Shredded Salad

LAMB:

2 onions
1 (2-inch) piece fresh gingerroot
4 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons ground coriander
3 T vegetable oil
1 cup Chinese cooking wine, or dry sherry
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup packed, dark brown sugar
2 quart beef broth
2 T oyster sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 cinnamon sticks
2 star anise
2# lamb, cut into cubes
SALAD:
3 carrots
4 scallions
1 long red chile
1 long green chile
Small bunch cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup Thai fish sauce
1 teaspoon superfine sugar

For thelamb: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Quarter and peel the onions, and peel and roughly slice the ginger and put into the processor with the peeled garlic cloves and coriander. Blitz until finely chopped, then heat the oil in a large Dutch oven and fry this mixture gently, until soft and beginning to catch in the pan; this should take about 10 minutes, over medium heat and with regular stirring.

Pour in the Chinese wine (or sherry) and let it bubble up. Add the soy sauce, brown sugar, broth, oyster sauce and vinegar. Bring to a boil, then drop in the cinnamon sticks and star anise. Add the pieces oflamb and let everything come up to a bubble again, then clamp on a lid and put into the oven for 2 hours.

Take the Dutch oven carefully out of the oven and, using a perforated spoon, remove the lamb to an ovenproof dish, cover with aluminum foil, and keep warm in the oven, while you vigorously boil the sauce in the Dutch oven on the stove, without a lid, until it has reduced by about half.

For the salad: Peel the carrots, cut into long slices, and then julienne them (i.e. cut into matchstick-like strips). Trim and halve the scallions and then julienne as well. Seed the chillies and also cut into juliennes, and finely chop the cilantro. Combine all the julienned vegetables and the chopped cilantro in a bowl. In another bowl mix the lime juice, fish sauce and superfine sugar, and dress the vegetables with this.

For serving: Arrange the lamb on a serving platter and pour over the reduced sauce over the meat, then dress the top with the hot and sour shredded salad.