Soak the rice for 30 minutes; drain and set aside.
While the rice is soaking, blanch the lamb by boiling 4 cups of water, in a pot, along with the lamb and ginger; let it boil for a couple of minutes, and then turn off the heat; use a slotted spoon to pick out the lamb pieces and set them aside, making sure to drain off excess water; use a fine mesh strainer to strain the cooking liquid; reserve liquid to cook the rice.
Heat the oil, in a wok, over high heat; add only the fatty lamb pieces; stir-fry to get a nice crust on the lamb; turn the heat down to medium low, and render the fat until the pieces start to turn golden brown; about 6 to 8 minutes.
Turn the heat to medium; add the onion; cook until the onion is translucent; turn the heat back up to high and add the blanched lamb in a single layer so as to brown the meat on all sides; this will take a few minutes; add 2-1/2 cups of the cooking liquid you reserved earlier, along with the salt, soy sauce, and cumin, and mix everything well; cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the carrots and raisins, if using, and cover for another minute to bring the mixture back up to a boil; turn off the heat; the carrots will finish cooking in the rice cooker; also, at this point, the taste will be on the salty side, but remember that it will mellow up once mixed in with the rice.
Pour everything into the rice cooker, or a pot, and add the rice; the rice should be spread out evenly; there should be enough liquid to see peeking through the rice grains, add more water if needed, but the liquid level should not be above the rice; cover and start the rice cooker; if you are using a pot, turn the heat up to medium high to bring the mixture to a simmer, cover, turn the heat down to low, and cook for 15 – 20 minutes.
Once the rice is done cooking, open the lid, mix everything together, add salt to taste, if necessary.
