Crumbled Flatbread in Mutton soup （西安羊肉泡馍）

Soak the lamb meat and lamb bones with clean water over night. Start with the broth. This is the soul of Yangrou Pao Mo. I am making the lamb version today.

Lamb is naturally pungent and bold in flavors; soaking it is an easy way to moderate the taste so your soup doesn’t come out too gamey. Of course, if you like it strong you don’t need to soak it.

Put the lamb meat and bones directly into a new clean pot that is filled with water. Turn the heat to high and bring the pot to a simmer. Skim off the scum.

Add the following ingredients into a spice bag: 1 tbsp of fennel seeds,1 tbsp of Sichuan peppercorns, 3 pieces of bay leaves, 2 pieces of dried red chilies, 6 slices of ginger, a hand full of scallion. Put the spice bag into the pot and simmer for 1 hour.

1 hour later, we will take out the lamb meat. Let it chill in the fridge for a few hours. Then slice it thinly

Continue to simmer the bone for another hour and the broth will be done.

Dissolve 1/2 tsp of alkali powder into 240 grams of water. Combine the alkali solution with 450 grams of all-purpose flour. Get your spatula to give it a nice pre-mix. You can knead the dough by hand for 8-10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. If you have a KitchenAid, use the hook attachment. Let it run on low speed for 10-12 minutes. Let the dough rest for 1 hour.

Dissolve 1.5 grams of instant yeast into 25 grams of water. Add it into 45 grams of all-purpose flour. Mix and form it into a small little ball. Cover it and we will let it proof for 1 hour.

1 hour later, throw the small yeast dough into the Kitchenaid. Let it run at low speed for 10 minutes to mix them together. Keep an eye on it because you will have to stop it a few times to help to redistribute the dough.

Divide it into 8 even pieces. Knead each one into a round, smooth ball. Cover them and let them rest for 10 minutes to relax the gluten.

Take one piece, roll it with a rolling pin. The diameter should be 5-6 inches across.

Next, we will toast the bread. Turn the heat to medium and heat the pan a little bit. Place your bread in. Keep spinning the bread so they can be cooked evenly. Each side will take 2-3 minutes. You just go by color. Once you see that one side has those charred marks, you can flip it and cook the other side. It is ok if the bread is undercooked because we will cook it again in the lamb soup.

Finished 8 of them. Cover with a lightly damp cloth and set them aside.

The lamb soup and the flat bread are the foundation of this recipe. Based on that, we will serve it with different toppings and sides to elevate the flavors, in which sweet preserved garlic plays the principal role. The garlic fragrance is very gentle. I often snack on it. It is not spicy and pungent at all. The flavor is sweet and sour, very delicious. Yangrou Paomo is rich and filling. Trust me, you definitely want a little crunchy pickle to balance the heaviness. I don’t know where to buy them because the local Asian stores around where I live don’t carry it. You can use other types of pickles though, such as the Japanese sushi ginger; It is also sweet and sour. Pickled olive from a jar like that is not as sweet but it does a great job at balancing the heaviness. I understand sushi ginger and pickled olive are not authentic but they work and they are easy to get.

Soak some Wood ear mushroom, dried daylily, and mung bean noodles in water for 1 hour until they are rehydrated. If your wood ear mushroom is big, you can go ahead and rip them into 1 inch * 1-inch size.

Besides that, you also need to prepare some diced cilantro and scallion. If you like spicy food, you can also use some garlic chili paste. This is what I am using. I will link it in the description.

Break the bread into small little pieces. The size should be like the soybean size.

Cook the crumbled bread, lamb slices, wood ear mushroom, dry day lili, mung bean noodles in the lamb broth for 3-5 minutes. Add some salt to taste.

Serve the sweet preserved garlic on the side. Sprinkle a little more scallion and cilantro as a garnish. Top a little bit of chili paste.