Xinjiang Restaurant

Xinjiang Food (Xinjiang Uyghur Restaurant)

Dapanji: “Big-plate chicken”

This is actually a small plate of “Big-plate chicken” … a big plate is about 15″ in diameter and is enough for 8 people! Chicken, potatoes, medium chillies, garlic and usually onions in a really fragrant sauce with star anise and Sichuan Pepper. An international classic dish in my opinion. This is the version at the “Alibaba” run by a Tartar family, again subtly different in flavour from the version at the other Xinjiang restaurants, where the owners are Uighurs.

Desert lamb ribs with Nann
The minority peoples who inhabit Xinjiang, are moslem and so don’t eat pork. They eat a lot of lamb done in various ways, though “lamb” as a translation of “yangrou” is often wishful thinking as it is likely to be sheep and may even be goat in some restaurants. “Shamo yangpai” from the Alibaba consists of lamb ribs with cumin and dried chilli flakes, a little red onion, fresh chilli and coriander, served on a fried “nang” bread. Delicious, but not the healthiest of foods!

Another Style of “Dapanji”

The version of “dapanji” at the “Tianshan” restaurant. Here the flavours are slightly different and the dish has more onion, but still with the principal spicing of chilli, Sichuan pepper, and, most importantly, Star anise. Less chilli oil as a base, so the sauce is less red in colour. At the Tianshan, they will serve the dapanji on a bed of “nang” bread like this, if you wish. The bread soaks up the sauce and is exceedingly “more-ish”.

Lamb with cumin : Cao Kao Rou : yang rou chuan
As an alternative to the lamb ribs, both restaurants offer “ziran yangrou”, lamb meat fried with cumin. Actually, it also has a fair amount of ground chilli and onion is another addition. The people of Xiamen don’t use onions very much, though they are available in the markets, mostly red onions. Spring onions or scallions are the thing here in the South East of China

Xinjiang Uyghur Restaurant
Source: mzfh.com