Cooked for 6 hours in the slow cooker this aromatic, melt-in-your-mouth, gooey, moist, extra large platter of pure Sticky Asian Lamb had us all dribbling. Â A really easy, simple dish that you can whack on in the morning yet look like you have been slaving for hours……I’m Lovin’ It!!
You can easily substitute for lamb shoulder, pork shoulder or beef cheeks and the result will be as amazing…….
Ps: Â If cooking in the oven, Â cover tightly with foil and cook for approx 3 hours on 170 degrees or until the lamb pulls apart easily with a couple of forks.
Prep time: Â 20 Minutes
Cooking time: Â 6.5 Hours
$$ Â Medium Budget
Serves 6-8
For the Sticky Asian Lamb:
2kg leg of lamb, on the bone
1tbs of peanut oil
1/2 a cup of kecap manis (indonesian sweet soy)
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
3 star anise
2 stalks fresh lemon grass, beaten and bruised
8 cm piece of ginger, roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 large red chilli, roughly chopped
6 green onions, sliced diagonally
1 cup of coriander leaves, roughly chopped
1 tbs of toasted sesame seeds
250gm pack of flat rice stick noodles
1 tsp sesame oil (for the noodles)
Steamed Asian greens to serve
To prepare the Sticky Asian Lamb, heat a large, heavy based pan until quite hot, add the peanut oil and sear the leg of lamb as best you can on all sides. Â Pop the lamb into the slow cooker. Â You could do this dish in the oven if you wish but you will need a good casserole dish with a lid.
In a bowl whisk together the kecap manis, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar and sesame oil.  Pour over the lamb and add the garlic, ginger, chilli,  lemongrass and star anise.  Give everything a good stir, pop the lid on, turn the cooker on high and don’t even think about it for at least two hours.  Lift the lid, turn the lamb over and baste with the sauce whenever you think of it but don’t be too precious.
After about 6 hours, remove the lamb from the cooker and cover with foil to keep warm. Â Strain the liquid from the cooker into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Â Reduce the liquid for about 20-25 minutes or until it has reduced by half. Â It won’t be too sticky but it will thicken slightly on cooling. You don’t want it too sticky as it is nice to have the liquid soak into the noodles. If there is a lot of fat in the liquid, place the strained liquid in a jug and pop it in the freezer for 30 minutes. Â No word of a lie, the fat will solidify and lift out really easily.
Cook the noodles according to packet instructions.  Drain the noodles and toss with a teaspoon of sesame oil (to prevent sticking) and pop them  on a large platter.  With a couple of forks, gently pull the lamb apart and arrange over the noodles.  Discard the bones but make sure you have a secret little gnaw. To garnish the Sticky Asian Lamb, scatter over the sliced green onions and coriander leaves  and drizzle over the syrupy sauce.  Finally scatter over the toasted sesame seeds and serve in the middle of the table with a platter of steamed greens.
Like things Sticky?
Will be cooking for dinner tomorrow, awesome. Thanku
Wonderful easy & delicious will be adding to my favorite list.Thank you cannot wait to use more of your recipes.
Enjoyed this but cooked in the oven as i don’t have a slow cooker, i needed to lower the temp and cook for longer as the sticky sauce was bubbling up. Nice change for an old favourite Roast Lamb. Smells fantastic while cooking too.
Excellent! I am glad you enjoyed it even though you don’t have a slow cooker!
One of my favourites!!!
One of mine too! Thanks for the comment 🙂
Absolutely yummo! Highly recommend anyone trying this recipe. Next time I’m going to replace the lamb with duck ih yeah baby
The Duck sounds amazing! Thanks for the tip 😉
Cannot wait to try this… Looks incredible!!! Just one question… I love lamb in the slow cooker but find that it can be too dry if it’s not fully covered with liquid. Is this a problem at all with this recipe, as the ingredients listed don’t seem as though they would create much liquid. Look forward to hearing your thoughts, but can’t wait to cook it!
Hi Clare, I have not had a problem with this dish being dry. A great tip for any slow cooking is to tuck a piece of baking paper over the lamb, like a snug blanket. It keeps the moisture in a very confined space. I have also cooked this dish with a lamb shoulder which is a more moist cut of meat perfect for the slow cooker. It has a lot more fat though so be sure to skim it off (there is great tip on how to do that in the recipe!). Also, if you are home while it is slow cooking, turning and basting the lamb will also keep it nice and moist. Let me know how you go and if it makes you feel better, a lot of people have cooked this recipe and I have not had one negative comment! Cheers Em x
Hi. This is delicious but I wish I had read the tip about the baking paper before I cooked it as mine was dry. Admittedly I wasn’t home much to turn it though. Definitely going to try it again! Your bling is beautiful. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Janine! Yep, always pays to read the recipe 🙂
I tried cooking it in an oven bag in the slow cooker today and perfection! Had to double-bag it to prevent splitting but that worked.
That’s fab Janine, Love the idea of the oven bag…..no mess! Cheers Em
Not sure how ‘blog’ ended up being ‘bling’ but it is a sparkly blog!
Like!
This is a delicious dish and was a big hit with the family. Second time around (with the exception of lamb) I doubled the ingredients for slow cooker so had more sauce for drizzling at the end!
So glad you loved it Robyn and yes, doubling the sauce is a great idea!
this sounds delicious. Can’t wait to try it. Would it be o.k. without bone as I have an “old fashioned” more upright slow cooker?
Hi Sue, without the bone would be fine. I actually did this recipe with a boned shoulder, it was delicious!
Is the slow cooker a crock pot or something else. Our crock pot would likely not accommodate a 2 kg leg with bone in. But maybe it would. sounds like a winner.
Hi BIll, I just did a little research and it actually said crockpots are better for larger chunks of meat so you should be fine. You can use a smaller leg too and the same ingredients…..because it is slow cooked it shouldn’t dry it out.
I’m going to make tomorrow night for dinner will let you know how I go
Make sure you do!
Do you need to turn the slow cooker down to low after the first 2hrs or leave it on high the whole time?
Hi Lyn, the other day I put the slow cooker on high for 2 hours but was going to be out all day so turned it to low for another 6 hours. I don’t think it really matters but you can turn it down if you like and just let it cook for longer, cheers Em
This sounds amazing, could you do it with beef.. Not a big lamb fan!
You could do it with a briskit or other slow cooked beef cut. A boned pork shoulder would be sensational too!
OMG! This was delicious. Didn’t have any lemongrass, substituted lemon zest. Mr 10 is in love, love, love. Added some extra chilli and cooked 5 hrs in slow cooker and then gave it a good hit with the pressure cooker just to be totally sure it was going to fall apart.
Only used a half leg of lamb, but there’s more than enough for tomorrow night Sunday night leftovers.
Yummy!
Fantastic, I am glad it was such a huge hit! Thanks for the feedback x
How long did you zap it in the pressure cooker?
I haven’t actually cooked it myself in the pressure cooker but I am thinking anywhere from 45 mins to an hour? If it comes apart easily with 2 forks, it is ready……
Hi, looking forward to trying this tomorrow and have bought a lamb leg roast…do I trim the fat from it first?
No! Don’t trim the fat, that is all the flavour! You can, however lift the fat out once cooked. There is a little trick in the recipe on how best to do that…..
Saturday night dinner, loved by all, thanks Em !
Awesome, so glad you liked it!
For those who do not have the slow cooker a Jamie Oliver tip is to use a baking dish with this sort of cooking low heat for a long time but fully cover and seal tightly using good quality alfoil, thought this might be helpful
Thanks for the tip!
This recipe looks beautiful, how long and what temperature would you use to cook in the oven.
Thanks
Gordon
Hi there, you would cook it at 170°C for about 3-4 hours or until it pulls apart easily with a couple of forks. Make sure it is well covered and sealed. It would also be nice with a shoulder cut.
Cooked this today – it’s amazing!! Thanks so much 🙂
Pleasure is all mine! Make sure you give some other recipes a go!!
Cooked this today – it’s amazing!! Thanks so much 🙂
Sunday night meal. Absolutely sensational. I did the oven method. Moist and delicious. Easy to follow recipe.
Awesome! Thanks for the comment and I hope you test out some other recipes!
Can’t wait to try this
Cool! Let me know what you think, particularly if you love it! 😉
Thank You, Im looking forward to trying out this yummy recipe this weekend..Photo alone makes me wanna cook this now!! Agnes
Thanks you Agnes!
So you don’t cook the onions – just place them raw on the plate? Sounds delicious!
Yep, that’s right. Sliced thinly and straight on top. I always love a bit of crisp, fresh garnish but if you would like to fry them off first, that is also cool x