Genghis Khan Recipe (Japanese Grilled Lamb)

The Genghis Khan Recipe is a genuine Japanese recipe. Japanese people call this dish Jingiskan (ジンギスカン). It is a grilled lamb or mutton dish with vegetables, cooked in a special metal skillet. But you can cook it in a frying pan just like today’s recipe. The flavour of the dish is not a traditional Japanese one, but it is quite tasty.

Jingiskan (Genghis Khan) is a local specialty dish of Hokkaido, the northernmost Japanese prefecture.  Reading the name Genghis Khan, you might think that the dish came from Mongolia, but it actually originated from a barbecued mutton dish in China.

About Jingiskan (ジンギスカン)

Jingiskan is the Japanese way of pronouncing Genghis Khan.

As mentioned in my post Pan-fried Lamb Chops with Miso Marinade, lamb/mutton is not included in the traditional Japanese cuisine. Hokkaido is the only region that uses lamb/mutton in  its local cuisine. When Japanese people hear the word ‘Jingiskan’, they think of Hokkaido. Here is the story about how Hokkaido developed this dish.

During World War I, Japan suffered from a shortage of woollen clothing and blankets. To become self-sufficient in the production of wool,  the Japanese government decided to breed sheep in Hokkaido, where the vast land was available. A large amount of wool was produced in Hokkaido but people were unsure of what to do with the meat from these sheep.

Since there were no traditional dishes that used lamb/mutton in Japan, Hokkaido people were forced to invent a dish to utilise it.

There are many stories about why this dish is called Jingiskan (Genghis Khan), after the emperor of the Mongolian Empire. One story is that Genghis Khan used to eat mutton dishes during the war.

Jingiskan Pot

Jingiskan is traditionally cooked at the table using a special metal skillet called a Jingiskan pot. It is a dome-shaped skillet with a narrow flat area around it. The pot is placed on a cooktop.

The vegetables are placed around the dome in the flat area and the lamb/mutton pieces are cooked on the dome. The idea is that the juice from the cooked lamb/mutton drips along the dome onto the vegetables, giving a good flavour to the vegetables.

You are meant to cook the ingredients yourself and eat them as you cook. It is a very similar concept to the Japanese hot pot dishes and the Japanese way of cooking Teppanyaki (I must post a Teppanyaki recipe).

You can either marinate the meat in advance, or cook the meat without marinating and eat it with a dipping sauce. My recipe today marinates the meat before cooking.

What’s in My Genghis Khan Recipe

• Sliced lamb or mutton
• Sliced onion
• Bean sprouts
• Diagonally sliced carrot
• Sliced capsicum

The meat has to be lamb or mutton to call this dish Genghis Khan but you can use pork, chicken or even beef if you can’t eat lamb.

I used a typical combination of vegetables for this dish but you can use other vegetables such as cabbage, pumpkin, and eggplant.

Genghis Khan Marinade

• Soy sauce
• Cooking sake
• Mirin
• Apple juice
• Sugar
• Grated garlic
• Grated ginger

The garlic and apple juice in the marinade makes Jingiskan a not-so-authentic Japanese dish!

How to make the Genghis Khan

As mentioned earlier, you usually cook Genghis Khan at the table using a special metal pan (see the photo in the section Jingiskan Pot). I don’t have a Jingiskan pot, so I used a frying pan.

1. Mix Genghis Khan Marinade. Put aside 1 tbsp marinade.
2. Marinate lamb pieces with the remaining marinade.
3. Sauté the vegetables in a frying pan.
4. Flavour the vegetables with the reserved marinade.
5. Push the vegetables outward along the side of the pan.
6. Cook the lamb pieces.

I used a conventional frying pan with one handle. If you have a shallow pan with two small handles, such as a cast-iron shallow casserole dish (why didn’t I used mine!?), the dish will look more elegant when placed on the dining table. If you have a large grill pan, that would be even better.

I cooked the ingredients on the stove, but you can of course cook them at the table on a portable cooktop – then it will be very close to how Jingiskan is cooked and served.

It doesn’t take long to prepare, and you can get the diners to cook. It is meant to be an interactive dining experience.

Yumiko

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Genghis Khan Recipe

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Total Time

15 mins

 

The Genghis Khan Recipe is a genuine Japanese recipe. Japanese people call this dish Jingiskan (ジンギスカン). It is a grilled lamb or mutton dish with vegetables, cooked in a special metal skillet. But you can cook it in a frying pan or a large griddle pan.

If you marinate the meat previous day, you can make it in 15 minutes.

Marinating time is not included as it can be between 1 hour to 24 hours. Cook time assumes that the lamb slices are cooked all at once. If you are cooking the ingredients at the dining table at your own pace, the cook time will naturally be longer.

Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.

Recipe Type: Main

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: grilled lamb, Japanese lamb recipe, Jingikan

Serves: 2

Author: Yumiko

Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)

• 250g / 8.8oz lamb sliced into 3mm / ⅛" thick bite-size pieces (note 1)
• ½ onion sliced to 1cm wide pieces
• 100g / 3.5oz bean sprouts
• 30g / 1.1oz carrot diagonally sliced thinly
• 40g / 1.4oz capsicum sliced into 1cm / ⅜” wide strips (note 2)
• 1 tbsp oil

Genghis Khan Marinade

• 1⅓ tbsp soy sauce
• 1⅔ tbsp cooking sake
• 1⅔ tbsp mirin
• 1⅓ tbsp apple juice
• ½ tsp sugar
• ½ tsp garlic grated
• ½ tsp ginger grated

Instructions

1. Mix the Marinade ingredients in a bowl. Put aside 1 tablespoon of the sauce.
2. Add the sliced lamb to the bowl of the remaining sauce and marinate the lamb for minimum 1 hour, preferably overnight.

3. Heat oil in a large frying pan (note 3) over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and capsicum. Sauté for about 1½ minutes.

4. Add bean sprouts to the pan and sauté for a minute. Add the reserved sauce to the pan and mix.
5. Shift the vegetables to the outer edge of the pan, making a ring shape so that the centre part of the pan is free to cook the meat.

6. Spread the lamb pieces in the centre of the pan, without overlapping where possible. Cook for a few minutes until the edges of the lamb pieces start changing colour.

7. Flip the lamb pieces over and cook for a couple of minutes. As the lamb pieces get cooked, I place them on the vegetables so that the juice from the lamb drops onto the vegetables.

8. Turn the heat off and place the pan on the table.

Recipe Notes

1. Genghis Khan is meant to use lamb or mutton, but if lamb is not for you, you can substitute it with sliced pork, chicken or even beef.

2. I used a typical combination of vegetables that are used in Jingiskan. Other vegetables commonly used are cabbage, pumpkin, and eggplant.

3. If you have a dome-shaped Jingiskan pot (the special pan used for cooking Genghis Khan) that would be the best. Even a large grill pan is better than a frying pan if you have one.

4. I cooked the ingredients on the stove, but you can of course cook them at the table on a portable cooktop and let the diners cook.

5. Nutrition per serving.

serving: 304g calories: 503kcal fat: 34g (52%) saturated fat: 12g (60%) trans fat: 0.1g polyunsaturated fat: 3.4g monounsaturated fat: 16g cholesterol: 90mg (30%) sodium: 674mg (28%) potassium: 603mg (17%) carbohydrates: 19g (6%) dietary fibre: 2.4g (10%) sugar: 13g protein: 25g vitamin a: 55% vitamin c: 105% calcium: 3.5% iron: 17%