Xinjiang Food Guide

Food in Xinjiang has much more of a Central Asian flavour than elsewhere in China and many of the dishes use Turkish and Islamic spices and flavourings. Much of the food here tends to be very spicy too, with peppers and chili used to much the same effect as they are in Sichuan, for their apparent cooling properties in the intense heat.

The staple food here is not rice, (as it is elsewhere in China) but noodles. La mien and Ban mien (noodles served with mutton and a spicy vegetable stew) are hugely popular in all the cities in the region. Grilled mutton kebabs (Kaoyangrouchuan) are another common specialty, familiar to western taste buds too! These kebabs are usually bought on the street and often accompanied by a large, flat oven baked bread, resembling Indian Nan and going under the same name.

Xinjiang also harvest some wonderfully tasty and fresh fruit. Turpan has an abundance of grapes and raisins. Every home here harvests grapes either for personal consumption, to export, to be made into raisins, or for wine. Hami melon is also very good.

The local Uigur people tend to be extremely friendly and eating is a real part of the lifestyle here. Pull up a chair at one of the small Uigur restaurants and even if you don't speak the language, someone will always make the effort to help you eat!

Uigur food aside, standard Chinese fare is available in the bigger cities of Urumqi, Turpan and Kashgar. Western food is more rare, although there are numerous branches of John's Information Cafe set up across the province, catering to western and backpacker tastes serving up pancakes, coffee and burgers!

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is inhabited by many ethnic groups, and Xinjiang-style food is characterized by roast mutton, kebabs, roast fish and rice to be eaten with the hand.

Roast Meat

Xinjiang roast mutton is as famous as roast duck is in Beijing and crispy suckling pig is in Guangzhou. A two-year-old sheep is slaughtered and skinned, daubed with salt inside and outside, and then coated with a mixture of eggs, chopped ginger and scallions, and pepper. The sheep is put into a stove to roast for about an hour until it turns golden brown.

Stewed Mutton Cubes

This is a Xinjiang dish prepared especially for festivals. Cut mutton into cubes of 500 grams apiece and boil them in a big pot. When they are half done, remove the foam; and when they are 80 percent done, ass onions, pepper, ginger slices, carrots, turnips and tomatoes. Then remove and place on a big plate. Put some salt in the stock and remove to a bowl. Before eating the mutton, dip it in the stock.

Roast Dumplings

First chop the mutton, beef and sheep's-tail fat into small cubes. Add chopped onions, salt and pepper to make the stuffing. Wrap the stuffing in dough, and put in an oven to roast for 20 minutes. The dumplings are thin-skinned, with tender meat stuffing and very delicious. The Uygurs often eat these together with nang (crusty pancakes) and rice to be eaten with the hands

Rice Eaten with the Hands

The materials are fresh mutton, carrots, onions, vegetable oil, melted sheep's fat and rice. There are more than 10 kinds of this rice dish, mainly mutton, chicken and vegetarian, but the most common is the one using mutton. This food is soft, delicious and nutritious. The taste is totally different from that of boiled noodles.