Xinjiang Cuisine

Formation and Characteristics of Uygur Cuisine

The Uygur people in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in compact communities have a time-honored history. They mainly live at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains. Uygur Cuisine, practiced by the Uygur people, is the main cuisine in Xinjiang.

Uygur ethnic group has exerted great influence on all the ethnic minority groups in China. In the course of their history, the Urgur people developed their unique culinary culture.

As the Uygur people believe in Islam, they, like the Hui people, don’t eat pork, donkey meat, dog meat and the meat of dead fowls and domestic animals.

Xinjiang boasts abundant land resources. Its animal husbandry has a long history. Oasis agriculture has been developed in some areas with abundant water resources, laying a solid foundation for the culinary culture. Because of the unique geographical conditions and abundant agricultural products in Xinjiang, the Uygur people and other ethnic minority peoples in Xinjiang who believe in Islam have formed a bold and unadorned culinary culture. The Xinjiang people not only refined the style of the Hui food but also merged the advantages of cuisines of other ethnic groups. The main materials that the Xinjiang people use to prepare food include beef, mutton, vegetables, and fruits. Each dish prepared by the Xinjiang people has its unique taste.

Famous Dishes and Snacks of Some Cities in Xinjiang

(1). Urumqi

Ürümqi city is the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In the Mongolian language, Ürümqi means the “beautiful grazing land.” The restaurants in Ürümqi serve a wide variety of unique dishes full of local characteristics.

Special Local Dishes:

Roast Whole Sheep—烤全羊

The way to prepare the dish is similar to the method of making the Mongolian dish - Roast Whole Sheep, except that cumin powder and Curcuma are added to the seasonings in the Xinjiang style.

Mutton Eaten with Fingers—手抓羊肉

The ways to prepare and eat the food are similar to those of Mutton Eaten with Finger of Inner Mongolia.

Snow Lotus and Chicken—雪莲全鸡

The ingredients of the dish include a hen, a snow lotus from the Tianshan Mountains, boiled eggs, egg white, and minced chicken meat, as well as various kinds of condiments. The dish features a delicious soup and aromatic chicken meat. A snow lotus floating by the hen adds beauty and elegance to the dish. The dish is also good for people’s health. For example, the dish can dispel cold, invigorate blood circulation and improve 阳 (yáng, masculinity).

Grape-shaped Fish Balls—葡萄鱼

Stewed the Bulb of Fritillary and Beef—贝母煨牛肉

Prepared with beef, meat broth, the bulb of fritillary and a wide variety of condiments, this dish features brightly yellow meat and delicious soup. It can moisten the lungs, and reduce phlegm and relieve coughing, which reflects the homologous Chinese culture regarding medicine and food.

Mutton Cubes Roasted on a Skewer—烤羊肉串

Roast Fish 烤鱼.

Special Local Snacks:

Kaonang (baked cake)—烤馕

Rice Eaten with Fingers—抓饭

Stretched Noodles—拉条子

Procedure: Pull the dough into noodles, boil noodles and add supplementary ingredients and seasonings to the noodles.

Ququ—曲曲

(Wonton-like dumplings particular to Xinjiang)

Fried Hand-pulled Noodles—炒拉面

Stretched Noodles—拉条子

Some popular snacks of Xinjiang, such as Stretched Noodles, and Mutton Cubes Roasted on a Skewer, have been introduced to many inland cities, and are well received by the people of various ethnic groups.

Xinjiang Cuisine is characterized by the Whole Sheep Banquet (全羊席), at which every dish is prepared with a part of a sheep as the raw material.

Horse Milk Tea—马奶茶

(Another special snack of Xinjiang.)

Some Dishes and Snacks of Other Ethnic Minority Groups in Xinjiang

Xinjiang is home to many ethnic groups. Most of the ethnic minority people in Xinjiang believe in Islam, so they have the same culinary culture. Due to the long-standing co-existence of different ethnic minority groups in the vast land of Xinjiang, many dishes in Xinjiang have the same names and ingredients. But each minority group has its own cooking style and dishes, such as:

Yitebailixi—伊特白里西

(Baked cake made of pumpkin, meat, and rice.) It is a dish prepared by the Tatar people.

Gewasi—格瓦斯

(Home-made beer-like drink.) it is prepared by the Russian ethnic group.

Several Special Dishes and Snacks:

Nangkeng Roast Meat—馕坑烤肉

Nangkeng Roast Meat is a snack peculiar to the Uygur people in Xinjiang. Nangkeng is an oven made by the Uygur people for roasting cakes and meat.

Procedure: Apply the mixture of clay, saltwater, and wool to the inner wall of a Nangkeng; heat the chamber of the oven with wood or charcoal; withdraw the burning firewood; block up the ventilation hole, and put the foods into a Nangkeng to be roasted.

The cakes, sheep’s legs, mutton and whole sheep roasted in Nangkeng are tasty, with a strong fragrance. It is a typical and popular delicacy of the Uygur people.

Xinjiang Cool Noodles–新疆凉面

Also called Yellow Noodles, the Xinjiang Cool Noddles is one of the most famous snacks in Xinjiang in hot summers.

Procedure: mix flour with alkali water and wild crown daisy chrysanthemum powder to make dough for preparing noodles. The alkali produced by Toksun County is the best, and wild crown daisy chrysanthemums grown in Turpan County are the highest in quality. The crown daisy chrysanthemum powder is processed with wild crown daisy chrysanthemums grown in the Gobi Desert. In autumn every year, the local people harvest wild crown daisy chrysanthemums and process them into powder. The alkali and wild crown daisy chrysanthemum powder are the two required raw materials for preparing Xinjiang Cool Noodles. The hand-pulled noodles are like golden threads, smooth, soft and chewy, with a faint smell. Eating cool noodles can help people dispel heat in summer. Xinjiang Cool Noodles with the gravy made of mutton, eggs, and spinaches is especially delicious.

Kuqa Noodles in Soup—库车汤面

Kuqa Noodles in Soup is well known in Xinjiang. Kuqa is located in the central-west Xinjiang. When preparing the snack, the local chefs pay particular attention to the quality of noodles and to the soup as well. The soup is prepared according to the following procedure:

Select high-quality mutton; boil the mutton until it is well done; slice the mutton, put the mutton broth aside for later use; prepare egg shreds; stir-fry minced garlic; cut the sheep tail fat into dices, prepare one-inch spinach; plunge the sheep tail fat into the mutton and again; and add onion oil, mutton slices, egg shreds, mutton broth, vinegar, pepper oil, and pepper powder before the noodles are served. Kuqa Noodles in Soup is palatable, aromatic, nutritious and not greasy.

Roast Nang—烤馕 (baked cake)

It is one of the main wheaten foods in Xinjiang, with a history of over 2,000 years. There are over 50 varieties of nangs, such as meat, oily, sesame seeds and thin nangs. Research reveals that the word “nang” originated from the Persian language, and originally the Uygur people called it “aimaike.”

It was not until the introduction of Islam to Xinjiang that it was renamed “nang.” The legend goes that when Tang Priest went across the Gobi Desert during his journey to get the scriptures in the west, he took along lots of nangs on the way. As Nang contains little water, it is easy to be carried about, which is very suitable for the climate in Xinjiang Area. Baking nangs of different tastes require a special oven.

Rice Eaten with Fingers—抓饭

Rice Eaten with Fingers is one of the local foods in Xinjiang. It is made of rice, sheep fat, mutton, and carrots. It is a favorite dish of the Uygurs and Kazaks in winters.

An Interesting Story of a Xinjiang Food

Rice Eaten with Fingers—抓饭

The dish is called “bonuo” in the Uygur language. It is a must delicacy served by the Uygur and Ozbek people at festivals, the Lunar New Year, wedding ceremonies and important banquets. According to the customs, guests are invited to sit on a Kang (a heatable brick bed) in a circle; the host brings in a kettle and a basin, and lets every guest wash his or her hands; several plates of rice are served; and both the host and guests eat rice with their fingers, hence the name. Meticulously prepared with fresh mutton, carrots, onions, clean oil, sheep fat, and rice, Rice Eaten with Fingers is delicious and nutritious, with a strong fragrance. Legend has it that the dish Rice Eaten with Fingers was created by a doctor over 1,000 years ago.

The doctor worked very hard all his life. In his later years, he felt very weak. Though he had taken lots of tonic medicines, he failed to recover his health. Later, based on the dietetic functions of mutton, carrots, onions, and rice, he created Rice Eaten with Fingers. He ate a small bowl of such rice three times a day—in the morning, at noon and in the evening, respectively. Half a month later, his health was remarkably improved. He told the people around him the recipe and functions of such rice. With the passage of time, Rice Eaten with Fingers was spread far and wide, and now it has become a famous traditional delicacy prepared by the Uygur people.