Urumqi's culinary culture is rich and unique, a nice break from your typical Chinese fare. Of course, you can still  find lots of typical Chinese food including Sichuan and Cantonese cuisine, but the local ethnic food and snacks are very tasty and very hot! Uigur, Mongolian, and Hui minority cuisine will all make your mouth water!
As both the Uigur and Hui minorities are Muslim, pork is rare in Xinjiang. Only Han Chinese eat pork here. It is therefore, important to remember to respect this tradition and remember that most meat served to you will either be mutton, beef, chicken or possibly duck. Xinjiang cuisine really excels at the preparation of mutton and Mutton Kebabs are popular throughout China. Other typical Xinjiang dishes include Lamian noodles, Nan bread, and Uigur rice.
Lamian Noodles
Lamian noodles, known in Chinese as Lamian or Lamiantiao are popular with many ethnic groups both in Xinjiang and the rest of China. The name 'Lamian' means 'pulled noodles'.
The noodle dough is pulled in a special way to create thinner and thinner strings of dough, and finally, noodles! Then the noodles are boiled quickly and various ingredients are added, including oil, mutton pieces, cooked tomato and chili peppers.
Uigur Rice
We call this dish 'Uigur Rice', but its name in Chinese is Zhuafan. In English, this actually means 'grabbed rice' for the fact that you can eat it with your hands.
The main ingredients are rice cooked in mutton broth with spring onion, carrot, and a piece of mutton (or beef, chicken, duck meat instead) placed on top of the rice. Sometimes, raisins or almonds are also added for a little extra flavor.
Grilled Whole Lamb
Grilled Whole Lamb is the most famous food found in Urumqi. Migrants from Xinjiang have made the food well-known throughout China but the most authentic grilled whole lamb still remains in Xinjiang, mostly in Urumqi. The food is prepared with selected ingredients and a special cooking technique. |
