Hands-on Xinjiang feast

Editor's Note: Traditional and fusion cooking styles, regional and international ingredients and a new awareness of healthy eating are all factors contributing to an exciting time for Chinese cuisine. We explore the possibilities.

Is your image of Chinese food limited to thoughts of sweet and sour pork, squirrel fish, Kung Pao chicken and wanton or dumplings? Think again. China is home to 56 ethnic groups, and every one of them has a distinctive cuisine.

Let's visit Xinjiang, where the Uygurs celebrate life with great music and good food. Some of China's best-known folk songs were composed in Xinjiang, or inspired by its music, but the region's culinary secrets have been relatively undiscovered.

Lamb is a popular meat here and the food is halal. Oven-baked breads such as nang are stacked high on market stalls.

There are significant residual influences from the old Silk Road, and the most famous banquets here are based on a meat and rice dish reminiscent of the pilaf, pilau and biriyani of other Muslim communities.

This is shouzhuafan, or "rice eaten with the hands". Richly flavored spicy meats such as chicken or lamb are cooked with saffron-scented rice studded with onions and carrots. More fried onions, fresh coriander and raisins made from the famous Xinjiang grapes are added as garnishes.

On feast days and celebrations, this dish becomes the centerpiece for friends and family. A huge platter is placed in the middle of the picnic, and guests help themselves, sharing the dish.

The lamb, tender and fragrant, helps this dish stand out, but it is the carrots that make it truly special. Xinjiang carrots come in many vibrant colors, from deep, almost red, orange to a bright sunshine yellow. They are incredibly sweet, and a Xinjiang pilaf must have plenty of carrots mixed into the rice.

Another dish that is a unique signature to this region is the dapanji, a tomato-based spicy chicken stew cooked with lots of onions, bell peppers and potatoes. This is often served with nang, the round flatbreads the size of a large pizza.

Another highlight would be whole roasted lamb, simply marinated with salt and crushed spices and slowly cooked on a spit over an open fire.

Salads of freshly cut herbs, onions and tomatoes are served on the side, but in Xinjiang the table is always blessed with spectacular fruits.

Huge red jujubes the size of a baby's fist, honey-sweet white apricots that are bite-sized but full of flavor, soccer ball-sized juicy pomegranates that easily break open to expose their jewel-like seeds, and the grapes ...

Xinjiang grapes are legendary. There are the light green manai putao, so long and juicy that they are named after the horse's udder. There are golden sultanas, deep purple raisins and a lovely red grape that smells just like roses.

Eating out in Xinjiang would appeal to the adventurous.

Street-side snacks are sold in the bazaars, and their fragrance stops tourists in their tracks.

There are stuffed nang, or baozi, with the dough formed around spicy mutton and onions, and then baked. These savory buns full of meat and juices offer the hungry traveler instant gratification.

Xinjiang chuan'er, lamb skewers, are a standard feature in any bazaar. The aroma of cumin and fennel over the flames will set the gastric juices flowing. Stop for sticks of lamb belly, whole kidneys, intestines and tripe. They are all delicious.

Xinjiang cuisine deserves more recognition, and it is a cooking style that you will find hard to forget.

paulined@chinadaily.com.cn

Recipe

Xinjiang lamb pilaf (shouzhuafan)

(Serves 4-6)

10-12 lamb chops

1 small tub unflavored yogurt

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 tablespoon garam masala

1 tablespoon cumin seeds, roasted

1-2 sticks cinnamon

20g saffron strands, soaked in 1 cup warm water

3 cups rice, soaked overnight

2 large onions, thinly sliced

2 large carrots, sliced into batons

1 cup raisins

Chopped fresh coriander leaves

Salt

Marinate the meat: Place the lamb chops in a large ziplock bag and add the yogurt, curry powder and garam masala. Marinate for at least two hours, or overnight to tenderize the meat.

Heat up oil or butter in a large frying pan, add the cumin and cinnamon and the sliced onions. Cook the onions till some are caramelized but some are still translucent,

Add the carrots, followed by the drained rice. Stir-fry to mix the ingredients well.

Slowly add the saffron water and let the rice absorb it fully. Season the rice with salt.

Next, transfer the rice to a large pot to complete the cooking. Spread out the rice and carrots evenly, then place the lamb chops in one layer over the top. Sprinkle half the raisins over.

Cover tightly and cook for 45 minutes, occasionally sprinkling a little water over the rice to keep it from scorching. Not too much, just enough to dampen.

When the lamb chops are cooked, dish up on a large platter, arrange them on top and garnish with the rest of the raisins and chopped coriander. Some grated carrots over the dish will freshen it up.

Tomato and onion salad

6 tomatoes, about 500g

1 large onion

Fresh coriander

Slice the onion thickly and separate into rings, sprinkle salt over and set aside. Wash off the salt and drain well after 10 minutes.

Slice each tomato into six wedges. Plate the tomatoes and scatter the onion rings over. Sprinkle some sea salt over the salad and drizzle a little grape seed or olive oil.

Top with fresh chopped coriander leaves.

Big plate chicken stew (dapanji)

One chicken, about 1.5 kg

4-5 tomatoes

2 green bell peppers

2 red or yellow bell peppers

1 large onion, sliced into large wedges

2-3 large potatoes

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon chili flakes

1 tablespoon cumin and fennel seeds

1 stick cinnamon

Salt and pepper

Sugar

Soy sauce

Wash the chicken well, removing all clots and entrails from its cavity. Trim off all visible fat and keep aside. Cut into half, then quarters. Then cut each quarter into two more pieces so you get generous chunks of chicken,

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and set aside.

Prepare the vegetables. Cut the tomatoes and bell peppers into large wedges. Parboil and skin the potatoes, then cut them into wedges.

Heat up a large frying pan with oil and add the chicken fat. Allow it to render, then add the cinnamon stick, fennel and cumin seeds and roast until they start popping.

Add the onions and fry till fragrant.

Next, add the chicken pieces and fry over high heat to sear the meat and keep the juices in. Add tomato paste, chili flakes, soy sauce and enough water to cover the chicken pieces. Add the potato chunks. Allow to simmer and reduce as the chicken cooks.

Taste, and add a little sugar if the sauce is too tart. Add the bell peppers, stir-fry and mix them into the stew. Adding them last will preserve their color and crunch.

Serve on a large platter with a side salad and lots of flatbread to soak up the juices.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 09/14/2018 page18)