Ningxia Cuisine is primarily based on Hui ethnic or Islamic dishes and partly on Han ethnic dishes. It absorbs the essence of the cuisine culture of Hui ethnic minority group, being Islamic and practical and adept at cooking beef, mutton and lamb meat. Ningxia has a diverse range of snacks which use beef, mutton, lamb and tripe as the main materials. The Islamic trait of Chinese Hui ethnic foods is characterised by the strict selection of raw materials and pays close attention to hygiene and quality.
Meat dishes always use freshly butchered animals and mostly deep-fried wheat products. Ningxia cuisine matches nutrition with other food making it special and practical. According to the traditional Islamic diet of Hui ethnic group, unhygienic animals, like pigs, donkeys, dogs, cats and animals that have died of natural causes including animal blood are prohibited. The selected animals must be slaughtered as the Koran verses are read in the name of Allah and the quality of slaughtered cattle and chickens must be guaranteed. Wheat products of Hui ethnic style are very refined and delicious. Deep-fried Flour Cakes (You Xiang, 油香) and Deep-fried Flour Twists (San Zi, 馓子) are crispy and tasty, golden and especially unique. There are a number of specially delicious snacks containing a refined selection of raw materials and cooking techniques, such as Doughy Noodles with Sliced Mutton (Yangrou Jiumian, 羊肉揪面), Noodles with Diced Lamb (Yangrou Cuomian, 羊肉搓面), Hand-Strung Noodles in Beef Soup (Niurou Lamian, 牛肉拉面), Stewed Lamb Tripe (Yang Za Sui, 羊杂碎), Dumplings and Bean Noodles in Lamb Soup (Fentang Jiaozi, 粉汤饺子), Braised Stuffed Egg Buns and Deep Fried Minced Mutton Balls (Hui Xiaochi, 烩小吃) and Noodles with Diced Mutton and Vegetables in Porridge (Tiaohe Fan, 调合饭).
Main Dishes
Braised Pork Joint with Cloves (Dingxiang Zhouzi, 丁香肘子)
This dish, also called Liaomao Zhouzi (燎毛肘子), is a distinctive Yinchuan speciality. It is slightly fat, soft and crispy and extremely flavoursome. The cooking method is as follows. The pork joints are singed and cleaned, boiled, coloured, carved, placed on a tray, steamed and then coated with sauce. Each step is highly refined and the selection of raw materials is very strict. The cloves used in the flavouring are aromatic and uniquely flavoursome. This dish is widely popular among local people.
Stewed Lamb (Shouzhua Yangrou, 手抓羊肉)
The dish is a unique Ningxia local specialty. Ningxia buck is used as the main raw materials. The meat of such lamb is rich in lean mutton, tender, easy-to-digest and abundant in protein. The finished dish is excellent in taste, colour and smell and not greasy at all. The meat of a buck is chopped into big chunks and put in boiling water. Sichuan pepper, fennel, aniseed, Chinese cinnamon, apricot and orange peels are stewed with the chopped lamb until the bone and flesh are easily separable. Other flavourings include sesame sauce, fermented bean curd, pickled leeks, soy sauce, vinegar, sliced shallots, mashed garlic and chilli oil which can be mixed in bowls as side ingredients according to individual preferences. People may pick up the meat by hand and dip it into assorted sauce.
Steamed Lamb (Qingzheng Yanggao Rou, 清蒸羊羔肉)
The meat of Ningxia lamb is tender, fresh and odourless. The best part of the meat comes from the upper-spine and breast bones of the lamb. The lamb meat is chopped into rectangles and washed with clean water and placed into a bowl. Ginger, garlic, shallots and Sichuan pepper are added to the mixture and then it is steamed for about 30 minutes. Once cooked it is served with vinegar, garlic and salt as flavourings.
Braised Lamb Tripe (Hui Yang Za Sui, 烩羊杂碎)
This dish is especially unique. The cooking method is as follows. Lamb tripe, lambs head and trotters are carefully washed and boiled, then sliced after being cooked. The original soup is used to braise the tripe along with shallots, ginger, mashed garlic, red chilli oil, monosodium glutamate and caraway. The red chilli oil, green caraway leaves and the fresh milky white soup are easily noticeable in this dish. It is not odorous or greasy, but delicious and flavoursome.
Crispy Roasted Chicken (Xiang Su Ji, 香酥鸡)
This is a Yinchuan local snack, crispy and delicious, tender and fresh. The cooking method is as follows. First, a hen is boiled until cooked, its bones are removed and its meat is sliced into strips and mixed with salt, sesame oil and monosodium glutamate. Second, egg white, starch and flour are evenly mixed into a paste. Third, half of the paste is poured into a flat cooking pan and greased with vegetable oil. Fifth, sliced chicken is wrapped using the remaining half of the paste and deep-fried until it becomes yellow and white. It is then removed and cut into pieces and served with pepper and salt.
Braised Beef with Liquorice (Gancaoshuang Shao Niurou, 甘草霜烧牛肉)
Walnut sized beef is chopped and soaked in water for about one hour, boiled in boiling soup over an intense fire and dipped into warm water. Flax oil is poured into the saucepan and fried with shredded shallots and boiled chopped beef. When dry, the beef is braised over a moderate fire with liquorice, fine salt and soy sauce with a bouquet garni (a parcel of liquorice leaves, Sichuan pepper, ginger slices, tangerine peel, aniseed and fennel), white sugar and beef soup. When the beef soup has thickened, the bouquet garni is removed and the leftover is stir-fried over an intense fire until dried. After adding monosodium glutamate, it is served presenting a bright red dish that’s crispy and delicious having the function of curing the cough and nourishing the lungs.
Braised Tofu with Vegetables, Yan Style (Sucai Doufu, 素菜豆腐)
Yan Sucai is well-known for cooking this dish and YanBingYi is the second generation to operate such a business. The Yan family uses the tender tofu produced with the secret family recipe as the raw materials. The deep-fried tofu swells whilst cooking creating a soft outer skin with a hollow centre resembling wheat gluten puff. Spinach, sliced carrots and chilli oil are used as side ingredients. The dish is green, yellow and red, excellent in colour, aromatic and tasty and widely popular with the old and the young. It is the best-selling vegetarian food. In recent years, deep-fried products made by the Yan family are greatly embraced by the local people of neighbouring villages and towns.
Mutton with Diced Daikon Stir-fried with Yellow Rice Wine (Hunjiu Xiao Chaorou, 浑酒小炒肉) uses the yellow rice wine (making the most of the nutrition of rice wine) and diced mutton, daikon and potato noodles as raw materials. Spicy oil may be served with this dish. In winter, pickles and sliced shallots along with dumplings may be boiled and served with this dish.
Boiled Chopped Lamb with Chilli (Shuipen Yangrou, 水盆羊肉)
The lamb is soaked in cold water to remove the blood, chopped and boiled in boiling water. The boiled meat is cooled down in a basin then cut into small chunks and placed into a large bowl. The lamb bones are stewed with seasonings over a moderate fire until the bone oil floats to the surface. At this stage it is recommended that the foam is skimmed off to remove the fatty deposits and impurities. The mutton, salt and ginger along with other side ingredients are put into the bowl and mixed with lamb meat soup, lamb bone oil and hot chilli and then served.
The dish is delicious, aromatic and rich in nutrition with a deep sense of home baked rural traditions and flavours. It is deeply popular among the local people.
Snacks
Drinks
Gaiwan Tea (盖碗茶)
The tea leaves chosen to make Gaiwan Tea are selected according to the season. Red jujubes, walnut seeds, sesame seeds, raisins and preserved fruits are the popular ingredients. It normally takes 3-4 minutes to make a decent Gaiwan Tea, which the locals say is even better than watermelons on a hot summer's day.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|