Reposted from the web

Summary: Urumqi Hui Muslim Home Cooking: 15 Halal Dishes is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: My mother-in-law came to Beijing in March and made us 15 Urumqi Hui Muslim dishes: big plate chicken with belt noodles (dapanji pidaimian), lamb hand-torn noodle soup (yangrou jiupianzi), Xinjiang meatball soup. The account keeps its focus on Urumqi Halal Food, Hui Muslim Food, Xinjiang Travel while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

My mother-in-law came to Beijing in March and made us 15 Urumqi Hui Muslim dishes: big plate chicken with belt noodles (dapanji pidaimian), lamb hand-torn noodle soup (yangrou jiupianzi), Xinjiang meatball soup (xinjiang wanzitang), dry-mixed noodles with lamb bean paste (yangrou zhajiang ganbanmian), lamb sour soup wontons (yangrou suantang huntun), Jingzhe oil tea eggs (jingzhe youcha dan), thin-skinned buns (baopi baozi), lamb vermicelli soup (yangrou fentang), cold-dressed chicken (liangban ji), diced stir-fried noodles (dingding chaomian), sour soup noodles with minced meat (suantang saozi mian), fragrant bean flower rolls (xiangdou huajuan), plate noodles (panzi mian), flavored fried starch jelly (fengwei zha menzi), and lamb and celery dumplings (yangrou qincai jiaozi). Since the official account can only insert 10 video channel clips, I will share the first 8 this time.

1. Big plate chicken with belt noodles (dapanji pidaimian)

My mother-in-law brought free-range chicken all the way from Urumqi. First, stir-fry the chicken with plenty of oil. Add chicken pieces, dried chili skins (lapizi), and ginger slices to the pot. Then add salt, Sichuan peppercorn powder, black pepper powder, tomato paste, bean paste, green onions, and garlic. Stir-fry until the blood is gone, then add soy sauce. Next, stew the chicken in a pressure cooker, adding water, the chicken, and potato chunks. After opening the pot, take out the potatoes, then add green onions, garlic, and vinegar.

Once finished, stretch the belt noodles; they taste best soaked in the big plate chicken broth.







2. Lamb hand-torn noodle soup (yangrou jiupianzi)

First, stir-fry lamb slices with tomatoes (yangshizi), green onions, and garlic. Add soy sauce and stir-fried potato slices, then add water. Stretch the dough and tear off small pieces into the pot. Finally, add black pepper powder and cilantro, and finish with a splash of vinegar.







3. Xinjiang meatball soup (xinjiang wanzitang)

For the Iftar meal, my mother-in-law made this Xinjiang specialty meatball soup using meat ground fresh at the Ma family shop in Douban Alley. The secret to the fried meatballs is pouring hot oil over the black pepper powder while mixing the filling. The best base for the meatball soup is broth made from beef marrow bones. You can add side dishes like spinach, king oyster mushrooms, tofu, carrots, or wood ear mushrooms.















4. Dry-mixed noodles with lamb bean paste (yangrou zhajiang ganbanmian)

Zainab said Urumqi has its own local version of bean paste noodles. I had never noticed it before and was very curious, so I finally got to eat it this time. These are hand-rolled cut noodles; our cutting board is still not quite big enough. Besides lamb, the bean paste sauce includes potatoes, carrots, and celery. It uses Pixian bean paste, so the flavor is completely different from Beijing-style bean paste noodles.

















5. Lamb sour soup wontons (yangrou suantang huntun)

I especially love the stewed lamb sour soup wontons (hong dong) made by Xinjiang Hui Muslims. After the lamb is stewed, add tomatoes, spinach, scallions, and cilantro. The wontons have the classic lamb and onion (piyazi) filling.













6. Jingzhe oil tea eggs (jingzhe youcha dan)

March 5th is the Awakening of Insects (Jingzhe), when all things come back to life. In the morning, we ate this seasonal Xinjiang Hui Muslim delicacy, Jingzhe oil tea eggs. Stir-fry eggs with dried fruits like raisins and walnut kernels, then pour in brewed brick tea and add rock sugar. Traditional oil tea with egg (youcha dan) must be stir-fried with mutton fat, but we use olive oil.













7. Thin-skinned steamed buns (baopi baozi)

Thin-skinned steamed buns (manti) filled with mutton and onions. Manti is a classic Silk Road snack. It spread to Central and West Asia with Turkic soldiers during the Mongol conquests and was later spread further by the Ottoman Empire. The word manti comes from mantou. Even today, the Wu dialect uses mantou to refer to meat-filled flour dishes. In 1330, the first year of the Zhishun era of the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial physician Hu Sihui wrote the Principles of Correct Diet (Yinshan Zhengyao). It records many ways to make mantou, all using mutton, mutton fat, green onions, dried tangerine peel, and salt for the filling. It even mentions the term thin-skinned mantou.











8. Mutton noodle soup (yangrou fentang)

This is the festive noodle soup made during the Mawlid (Zhuo Bailati). First, braise the mutton, then stir the pea starch and let it sit overnight before cutting it into starch blocks. Next, make a topping with cabbage, small radishes, mutton slices, and tomatoes. When you eat it, soak some fried dough (youxiang) in the soup. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: Urumqi Hui Muslim Home Cooking: 15 Halal Dishes is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: My mother-in-law came to Beijing in March and made us 15 Urumqi Hui Muslim dishes. The account keeps its focus on Urumqi Halal Food, Hui Muslim Food, Xinjiang Travel while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

My mother-in-law came to Beijing in March and made us 15 Urumqi Hui Muslim dishes. They are big plate chicken with belt noodles (dapanji pidaimian), lamb hand-torn noodles (yangrou jiupianzi), Xinjiang meatball soup (Xinjiang wanzi tang), dry-mixed noodles with lamb bean sauce (yangrou zhajiang ganbanmian), lamb sour soup wontons (yangrou suantang huntun), Jingzhe oil tea eggs (Jingzhe youcha dan), thin-skinned buns (baopi baozi), lamb vermicelli soup (yangrou fentang), cold shredded chicken (liangban ji), diced stir-fried noodles (dingding chaomian), sour soup minced meat noodles (suantang saozi mian), fragrant bean flour rolls (xiangdou huajuan), plate noodles (panzi mian), flavored fried starch jelly (fengwei zha menzi), and lamb and celery dumplings (yangrou qincai jiaozi). Yesterday I shared the first 8 dishes in '15 Urumqi Hui Muslim Dishes Made by My Mother-in-law (Part 1)', and today I will continue with the remaining 7.

9. Cold shredded chicken (liangban ji)

The cold shredded chicken made in Xinjiang Hui Muslim homes is actually the same as the pepper-numbing chicken (jiaoma ji) in restaurants, but it is not as salty or heavy. First, you must choose free-range chicken, not yellow-feathered broiler chicken (sanhuang ji). You should buy a whole chicken, stew it, and tear it by hand, but I went to the market and had the butcher chop it for me, haha. When stewing the chicken, you must add chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, and when making the dressing, you must also fry Sichuan peppercorn oil first.







I bought the chicken at the Dazhang Halal Free-range Chicken specialty store in Changying Market.



10. Diced stir-fried noodles (dingding chaomian)

For these classic diced stir-fried noodles, we usually don't use tomato paste at home, just fresh tomatoes.









11. Sour soup minced meat noodles (suantang saozi mian)

The Urumqi Hui Muslim version of sour soup minced meat noodles also uses hand-rolled cut noodles.









12. Fragrant bean flour rolls (xiangdou huajuan)

These are steamed rolls made with fragrant bean flour (xiangdou fen) and rapeseed oil. It is hard to buy fragrant bean flour in Beijing, so I bought it online specifically.









Steamed rolls served with shredded potatoes and corn grits are a classic Urumqi Hui Muslim breakfast.



13. Plate noodles (panzi mian)

Xinjiang pulled noodles (latiaozi) come in two types: plate noodles and stretched noodles (zhangzi mian); plate noodles are chewier than stretched noodles.







They are served with bamboo shoots and meat, or bok choy and meat; it seems rare to find these two types of Xinjiang mixed noodles in local Xinjiang restaurants.





14. Flavored fried starch jelly (fengwei zha menzi)

Flavored fried starch jelly is a banquet dish for Xinjiang Hui Muslims; the last time I ate it was at my engagement banquet with Zainab.

The starch jelly (menzi) is made with minced beef. When mixing the filling, you must beat it repeatedly, then shape it into a cylinder, pinch the top to look like a fence, pour egg into the center, and steam it. Once steamed, slice the jelly, coat it in egg wash, and fry it. Take it out, sprinkle with cumin, chili powder, and salt, and a delicious plate of flavored fried starch jelly is ready.



















15. Lamb and celery dumplings (jiaozi).

There is a saying that you eat dumplings before a trip and noodles when you return home. My mother-in-law is leaving, so she made us lamb and celery dumplings for her final meal. She added eggs to the dough, which gave it a slightly yellow color.













You have to eat them with chili oil (youpo lazi). view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: This travel note introduces Urumqi Hui Muslim Banquet: Xinjiang Halal Food and Local Muslim Culture. On January 24, 2020, I attended a welcome banquet at Zainab's home in Urumqi and met her extended family. Next, I will share with everyone what we ate at this banquet. It is useful for readers interested in Urumqi Halal Food, Hui Muslims, Xinjiang Travel.

On January 24, 2020, I attended a welcome banquet at Zainab's home in Urumqi and met her extended family. Next, I will share with everyone what we ate at this banquet.

The food at the banquet was divided into two categories. Before eating the main meal, thirteen small plates were placed on the table containing various dried fruits and snacks, which are called 'thirteen little plates'. After everyone finished chatting, the plates were cleared and replaced with the main courses. Thirteen dishes were served in order, making a total of twenty-six types of food.

Thirteen little plates

The pronunciation here is die-die-zi, which is also a common tone combination in the Xinjiang dialect.

First, the list: dried figs, Medina dates mixed with dried apricots (hen), Tatar pastries, Hui Muslim Ma-style snacks, Kazakh kurt (dried yogurt balls), candied walnuts, pistachios, almonds, cashews, melon seeds, dried apricot (hen) skins mixed with tangningningzi (fried dough twists), raisins, and loose sugar.



On the morning of the banquet, the plates were arranged in a room, which is called 'setting the little plates'.



This is what it looked like after being set.









Candied walnuts made by my mother-in-law; they are sweet.





The dried apricot (hen) skins and tangningningzi were also made by my mother-in-law. Tangningningzi is what Xinjiang Hui Muslims call them; the general term is youguozi (fried dough snacks).





The figs in Xinjiang are truly incredibly delicious, but fresh ones are only available in the summer. Most of the time, we eat dried figs, which really feel like candy inside.





Zainab and I bought Tatar-style cream cakes and walnut pie at the Marhaba Tatar Pastry Shop on Linguan Lane, Heba Third Alley.

The Tatar ethnic group is the smallest ethnic group in China, with only about 3,000 people. Most of the Tatar people in China come from the Kazan Tatars. From the 19th century to the early 20th century, they moved successively from Kazan on the banks of the Volga River to settle in Urumqi, Yining, and Tacheng in Xinjiang. At that time, most of the Tatar people were intellectuals or merchants, and they played an important role in promoting the establishment of modern education in Xinjiang.

Today, many Tatar people in Xinjiang have moved abroad. The places where you can most intuitively experience their culture are the Tatar embroidery shops in Yining and the Tatar pastry shops in Urumqi.

The Tatar pastry shop in Urumqi is located on the site of a former Russian trading port. 100 years ago, this was a place where Russians, Tatars, and various Central Asian merchants traded, somewhat similar to Sanlitun in Beijing. The Tatar pastry shop is also a witness to this history.

Their most classic cake consists of six layers of dough with six layers of cream. The dough is made of milk, eggs, ghee, and honey, without adding water, and it tastes especially fragrant.



















Ma-style snacks is one of the most famous traditional Hui Muslim snack shops in Urumqi, and it has been open for over a decade. Zainab's mother also used molds to make them herself when she was a child, but now fewer and fewer Hui Muslims in Urumqi make them themselves.



2. Thirteen dishes

Meat dishes: braised beef ribs, clear-stewed mutton, fish-drilling-net (fried meat jelly), braised meatballs, cold-dressed chicken, steamed fish

Hot dishes: pickled cabbage with meat, daylily with wood ear mushrooms, celery with lily bulbs, garlic sprouts with meat

Cold dishes: sweet platter, lotus root with wood ear mushrooms (lotus pond moonlight), bean curd skin with red chili

The staple foods were fried youxiang (leavened flatbread), momo (steamed buns), and rice.

The presentation looked like this:





1. Braised beef ribs

First, blanch the beef ribs. After they turn white, take them out. Heat oil, add the meat, ginger, a little cinnamon, star anise, and bean paste. Stir-fry for a while, then add fresh chili peppers. After the meat dries out, put it in a pressure cooker and stew for 25 minutes.











2. Clear-stewed mutton

First, skim off the blood foam, then stew. When serving, sprinkle a little raw onion on top.











Braised meatballs

The beef for the meatballs and the meat jelly was bought at a Uyghur shop in the market across from our residential compound.





The night before the banquet, we fried the meatballs, and on the morning of the banquet, we braised them.





This is what it looked like after being braised the next day.



Fish-drilling-net (fried meat jelly)

'Fish-drilling-net' is just fried meat jelly. When buying the meat, have the Uyghur uncle grind it into mince (xuanzi). The mince for the meat jelly needs to be finer than that for the meatballs; it must go through the meat grinder twice. The night before the banquet, steam the mince into meat jelly, then slice it. On the morning of the banquet, coat the slices in egg and starch and fry them in a pan. Finally, sprinkle with cumin, chili, and salt.













Cold-dressed chicken

The cold-dressed chicken was stewed the day before and placed on the windowsill, then dressed on the morning of the banquet. Cold-dressed chicken is actually chicken without the numbing pepper flavor of jiaoma chicken.



The chicken feet and gizzards were picked out and eaten beforehand.



The next morning, cut the chicken, add green onions, onions, and chili, then pour chicken broth over it to finish.





Pickled cabbage with meat

The pickled cabbage was made at home.





Sweet platter

The sweet platter was made the night before and wrapped up, then sprinkled with sugar syrup the next morning.







The next morning, boil the sugar syrup and pour it over.



Fried youxiang

To fry youxiang, first knead the dough.





Zainab and I went out shopping while they were being fried, and they were already done when we returned. Youxiang must be eaten by breaking it apart; you cannot eat it whole. After the banquet, if there is any left over, it can be soaked in various soups, rice noodles, or noodle soups. view all