80% of Qinghai province is grassland and the remaining is the agricultural and semi-pastoral regions of the east. There are numerous wild animals, fowls, vegetables, fruits and a number of local specialties, such as yak, Tibetan lamb, Huangyu fish (a carp from Qinghaihu Lake) and Chinese caterpillar fungus. In terms of cuisine, the agricultural and semi-pastoral regions are primarily based on dishes of Han and Hui ethnical groups. The two types of dishes mutually affect and learn from each other absorbing the essence of Tibetan dishes of the pastoral area. These are the main features of Qinghai Cuisine. The cooking techniques are wild and mostly baked, fried, steamed, stewed or boiled. The flavour is sour, spicy, delicious and salty. The Qinghai dishes are soft, crispy, savoury, flavoursome, fresh and tender.
Main Dishes
Feast to Entertain Guests（Daike Yanxi, 待客筵席）
The feast has two types: Eight Meat Dishes and Eight Seafood Dishes. The former is based on beef, mutton and pork. The sequence to serve dishes is as follows. The first course is Assorted Cold Dish (Quan Pan, 全盘; not a formal dish but used as a drinking accompaniment). Deep-fried Sour and Spicy Shredded Pork Tenderloin (Suanla Liji, 酸辣里脊; deep-fried pork from around the spine of the pig. An ideal dish for a feast for it symbolizes peace and harmony) is always served first in formal feasts. The second course is Braised Assorted Dish (San Shao, 三烧, it comprises of chopped pork, meat balls, fried tofu or lamb tendon) along with steamed buns stuffed with minced meat and vegetables and one bowl of soup for each guest. The third and fourth courses are normally Braised Mutton with Minced Onion (Hu Yangrou, 糊羊肉) and Braised Chicken with Soy Sauce (Hongshao Jikuai, 红烧鸡块). The fifth course is sweet desserts. Two big bowls of boiled water are placed on to the table so that guests can wash their spoons and chop sticks. Then Steamed Glutinous Rice with White Sugar and Red Dates (Niang Mi, 酿米), Steamed Glutinous Rice Balls Stuffed with Minced Meat and Walnuts (Su Hewan, 酥合丸) or Steamed Dumplings Stuffed with Sugar (Pei Tang Jiaoer, 配糖饺儿) are served (In the wedding feast, the bride and the groom toast the guests when such dish is served symbolizing a traditional sweet and happy life). The sixth course is sweet soup, like Fermented Glutinous Rice Wine (Laozao, 醪糟) and Gexianmi (Nostoc Commune Vauch) Soup (Gexianmi Tang, 葛仙米汤). The seventh and eighth courses are Braised Pork Joints (Darou Zhouzi, 大肉肘子) and Steamed Pork with Bean Paste and Glutinous Rice (Jiasha Rou, 夹沙肉). Last of all, the Final Four Dishes, refers to four dishes served with staple food, namely Fried Pork Slices with Soy Sauce (Xiao Hongrou, 小红肉), Braised Meat Balls with Potato Noodles (Fentiao Wanzi, 粉条丸子), Stir Fried Tofu (Su Doufu, 素豆腐) and Fried Assorted Peppers (Chao Lazi, 炒辣子). Besides this, there is a big bowl of sour soup and a small bowl of steamed rice acting as the staple food. This is not listed in the Eight Meat Dishes. If the eight dishes above contain seafood, such as sea cucumber or squid, they could be called Eight Seafood Dishes.
Steamed and Fried Huangyu Fish (a carp from Qinghaihu Lake) (Hong Zheng Huangyu Kuai, 红蒸湟鱼块)
To make this dish, the Huangyu Fish from the Qinghaihu Lake is deep fried and steamed. The finished dish is bright red, soft and crispy in flesh, delicious and aromatic with the smell of pepper.
Raft-shaped Steamed Buns with Minced Mutton Haslet (Fazi Routuan, 筏子肉团)
People named this dish after a type of river transportation called a raft which uses lambs skin tightly stretched across the hull to make it buoyant. Minced mutton or pork is boiled and steamed producing a slightly oily but tender and delicious dish. People from surrounding ethnic groups in Qinghai like to eat this dish. Hui and Sala ethnic people will eat the dish during their festivals; Han and Tu ethnic people make it at the end of each year to celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival.
Braised Snow Cockerel with Chinese Caterpillar Fungus (Chongcao Xueji, 虫草雪鸡)
Snow Cockerel of the Tibetan plateau and Chinese caterpillar fungus are braised together making this dish colourfully rich, crispy and flavoursome.
Steamed Beef Tendons (Qingzheng Niu Tijin, 清蒸牛蹄筋)
This dish is a typical Qinghai local dish and is listed as a local specialty by Islamic restaurants. It is light, tender and as soft as sea cucumber and possesses a special highland flavour which can’t be found anywhere else. An old saying goes that beef tendons are more delicious than sea cucumbers.
The cooking method is very refined and requires highly skilled processing techniques and is truly time-consuming to cook. First, the beef tendons are singed, baked and cleaned to remove the burnt outer skin. Second, the tendons are soaked in alkaline water, repeatedly rinsed until the skin turns golden, boiled in a pan until cooked and steamed in a steamer. Third, the bones are removed and when crispy and soft, the steamed tendons are ready to be cooked with the side ingredients. Fourth, the tendons are sliced and evenly mixed with peppertree, pepper, fine salt, soy sauce, hot chilli and placed into a bowl and steamed once more until the taste of the flavouring enters the tendons. Last of all, before being served, the dish is mixed with beef soup, caraway and mashed garlic. The finished dish is light yellow and very soft. If cooked with sea cucumber, bamboo shoots, mushrooms and black fungus, the dish is re-named Assorted Sea Cucumber (Shijin Haishen, 十锦海参) or Braised Beef Tendons with Assorted Flavourings (Shi Yang Jin, 十样锦) which is rich in colour and extremely delicious.
Braised Lamb with Soy Sauce and Peppers (Baomen Yanggao Rou, 爆焖羊羔肉)
This dish, as a famous traditional folk dish in the Datong regions, uses the 2 week old lamb as the raw material. A Skinned lamb is gutted, rinsed and chopped into squares of about 1 to 2 inches. When the smoke begins to appear from the hot vegetable oil, the chopped lamb is quick-fried until the skin turns golden. Then, soy sauce, peppers, mashed ginger, pepper and salt are added and stirred until the lamb meat turns red and absorbs the taste of the flavouring. A small amount of cold water is poured into the pan and the mixture is brought to the boil and braised over a moderate fire. When the lamb meat has dried out and is completed cooked, the dish is ready to be served.
Raft-shaped Steamed Buns with Minced Mutton Haslet (Fazi Routuan, 筏子肉团)
It is nicknamed as the Raft Dish (Fazi, 筏子) due to its resemblance with a raft, an old river transportation vessel used to cross the Chinese Yellow River. Cleaned tripe from a freshly butchered lamb is used for this dish. The fat membrane (stomach fat or mesh fat) from the rinsed lambs stomach wall is utilized to wrap the stuffing which comprises minced liver, lung, kidney and spleen, including flavourings such as peppertree, pepper, sliced onions, a tiny amount of flour and cooking oil and made into stuffed rolls between 5 to 7 inches long. The lambs intestine is wrapped with the roll to produce a long and round stuffed meat strip with two sealed ends. After being boiled and steamed for about 15 minutes, the strip is ready to be chopped and brought to the table. There are two ways to eat it. First, the sliced strip is served with soy sauce, vinegar, crushed garlic and pepper. Second, the strip is diced and mixed with hot mutton soup and served with mashed garlic and caraway. Third, the strip is cut into thick pieces, braised in hot vegetable oil until the skin becomes golden before being served to the guests. This special dish is completely made from lamb haslet and is served during the festivities of the Hui and Sala ethnic groups. It is delicious and flavoursome, tasty and soft and slightly fat. An old saying goes that this dish is more delicious than any other meat dishes served.
Lamb Tripe Soup (Yangdu Tang, 羊肚汤)
This is both a famous local dish and common among various Qinghai feasts.
The cooking method is as follows. Fresh lamb tripe is cleaned and boiled for several minutes in hot water at about 80 degrees. The black skin of the boiled tripe is removed by a knife and rinsed with clean water. The leftover tripe is chopped into three parts, coated with an alkaline powder and boiled in boiling water until it turns white. The chopped tripe is boiled with sliced onion, garlic and ginger until crispy and soft then sliced and placed into the broth and mixed together with onion, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper and monosodium glutamate. The soup is boiled until cooked and the scum floating on the surface is removed. Coriander and a little bit of sesame oil are added into the soup as an additional flavouring completing the final dish.
The sliced tripe is soft, tender, crispy, delicious, fresh and light, appetizing and odourless creating a relatively cheap and tasty meal.
Snacks
Drinks
Yoghurt (酸奶)
The yoghurt from Xining grassland, Qinghai province, is mainly produced during summer and autumn. Mixed with fresh vegetable oil and sugar, it offers a unique taste as well as a healthy diet. The yoghurt is rich in nutrition, even richer than fresh milk.
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