What Snacks Can You Try in Shizuishan, Ningxia?
1. Hui-style Steamed Mugwort Leaves
Cooking Method
- Remove tough stalks and withered leaves from fresh mugwort, then rinse thoroughly to get rid of sediment. Mix the mugwort with flour at a ratio of 1 kg mugwort to 250 g flour, and toss well until every leaf is coated.
- Place the mixture in a bamboo steamer and steam for 30 to 40 minutes. The fully steamed mugwort turns off-white with no strong herbal aroma.
- Serve in bowls and season with a blended sauce made of sesame oil, chili powder, chopped green onions and mashed garlic.
- Mixed with green onions, bean sprouts and tofu, mugwort can be used to make dumplings. Combined with green vegetables, it can be shaped into vegetable buns.
Features
This snack is fragrant, non-toxic and rich in nutrients. Traditional beliefs hold that it can promote blood circulation, dispel cold-dampness, stop bleeding and soothe pregnancy. Mugwort harvested around the Dragon Boat Festival is especially tender and fresh, helping stimulate appetite and invigorate the spleen.
2. Mutton Diced Sauce Noodles
A famous traditional noodle dish in Ningxia. Mutton sauce noodle restaurants can be found all across Yinchuan, the provincial capital. It evolved from the "Longevity Noodles" in the early Tang Dynasty. Nowadays, it is a classic treat for guests at birthday celebrations for the elderly and children, as well as other festivals, symbolizing blessings for longevity.
Rich broth is the highlight of this dish, as the local saying goes, "A good meal lies in its soup". The sauce broth is simmered with meat, chili oil, seasonal vegetables, tofu and assorted seasonings.
Chefs usually choose premium pork tenderloin and dice it finely. Stir-fry the diced meat in a hot wok, then add chili powder, green onions, ginger, condiments and rice vinegar in sequence. Making the broth demands precise control over oil temperature, heat and seasonings. The finished red sauce broth has a deep color yet mild taste, rich oil content but no greasiness. Added with daylilies, wood ear mushrooms, garlic sprouts, tofu and eggs, it presents a colorful look of red, yellow, green and white, with a perfect blend of sour, spicy, fragrant and sweet flavors.
Paired with thin, chewy white noodles, the dish is extremely appetizing — tangy, spicy and savory without being greasy.
The whole cooking process is elaborate:
First, prepare the sauce with mutton, red chilies, green turnips, tomatoes, garlic sprouts and seasonings. Then knead dough firmly to ensure the noodles are chewy. Keep kneading until the dough becomes smooth. Roll it into an even thin sheet (or use a noodle press), cut into fine strips and boil in hot water.
When serving, put noodles in bowls first and top with plenty of sauce and broth. The thin, springy noodles go perfectly with the fresh, sour-spicy broth, making it a nourishing delicacy suitable for people of all ages.
A top-quality mutton sauce noodle features excellent noodles and aromatic broth. Local cooks pay great attention to both noodle-making and broth preparation.
Authentic Ningxia mutton sauce noodles require white, ultra-thin, fine and unbroken noodles made from high-quality wheat flour. Three key steps determine noodle quality:
- Knead the dough to achieve elasticity and firmness.
- Roll the dough into uniformly thin sheets.
- Cut the dough into slender, separate strips with skilled knife work.
A folk proverb vividly describes the perfect noodles:
"Rolled as thin as paper, cut as fine as thread;
Twirling like lotus blooms in the pot,
Never breaking when lifted or piled in a bowl.
Guests finish three big bowls,
Praising this fine noodle across miles of land."
3. Mutton Jelly Dumpling Soup
This dish combines cold jelly, diced mutton and mutton dumplings stewed together. It tastes tangy, spicy and delicious.
4. Roasted Lamb Chops
A classic halal dish. The chops are crispy outside and tender inside, with well-cooked meat and rich aroma. It is believed to nourish the blood, tonify the body and reinforce yang energy.
Ingredients
- Main: 500 g lamb chops
- Auxiliary: 150 g white onion, 50 g egg, 25 g wheat flour
- Seasonings: 3 g white pepper, 100 g soy sauce, 100 g cooking wine, 5 g monosodium glutamate, 2 g cumin, 5 g Chinese prickly ash, 15 g pepper salt
Cooking Tip
Make an egg batter by mixing eggs and flour.
5. Shahu Lake Giant Fish Head
Restaurants at Shahu Lake Scenic Area specialize in full fish banquets. For distinguished guests, chefs serve giant bighead carp heads freshly caught from the lake, each weighing 15 to 25 kilograms. The dish is a feast for both the palate and the eyes, winning unanimous praise from diners. It has even been served at Chinese state banquets.
Shahu Lake Giant Fish Head is registered as a National Agricultural Product with Geographical Indication. Its producing area covers wetland beaches of Zhenshuo Lake and Gaorong Lake around Shahu Ecotourism Area managed by Ningxia State Farms, with coordinates ranging from East Longitude 106°15′20″ to 106°25′45″ and North Latitude 38°45′ to 38°51′30″.
6. Braised Ox Tail
A popular halal home-style dish. The finished ox tail looks glossy, with tender meat and thick, savory sauce.
Cooking Method
- Cut the ox tail into sections by joints, soak to remove impurities, then boil thoroughly in hot water. Rinse off blood foam and set aside.
- Heat sesame oil in a wok. Sauté star anise, scallion sections, ginger slices and garlic slices until fragrant. Add sweet flour paste and stir well, then pour in cooking wine, soy sauce, salt, cinnamon, sugar, chicken soup and water. Put in the ox tail and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat until 90% cooked. Transfer the ox tail into steaming bowls and steam until fully tender.
- Flip the steamed ox tail onto a plate. Strain the leftover sauce into the wok, add cooking wine, soy sauce and monosodium glutamate. Thicken with water starch, drizzle with hot sesame oil, then pour the sauce over the ox tail to serve.
7. Stir-fried Mutton Dough Slices
Knead high-quality flour into dough and let it rest. Slice mutton, stir-fry the meat with chopped scallions, ginger and garlic in hot oil. Add soy sauce, salt and Chinese prickly ash water, then simmer.
Roll the rested dough thin. Tear it into small pieces and boil in hot water. Transfer the cooked dough slices into the mutton wok, stir-fry to blend flavors, and add stock, seasonal vegetables and chili oil. The dish features chewy dough and fresh mutton with a unique flavor.
8. Maltose
A traditional sweet treat beloved by the Hui people in the river valley areas of Ningxia. For over 200 years, local Hui families have made maltose every year after the autumn harvest: they sun-dry barley, prepare tools, process grains and boil candy.
The river valley region is a major barley producing area in Ningxia, providing ideal raw materials. Locals make maltose for personal consumption and street sales. In the Republic of China era, dozens of maltose workshops emerged here. The most renowned was the Mao Family Candy Workshop run by Mao Yishan and Mao Yichuan from Huibei Township, Pingluo County.
Cooking Method
- Process rice grains and sun-dry for several hours. Cook the rice together with cleaned barley in a large pot until the water evaporates. Add proper amount of water and boil for 3 to 5 minutes, then pour the mixture into a large vat. Seal the drain hole at the vat bottom tightly. Dig a pit underneath and place an empty clean vat inside, aligning the two drain holes and covering the top vat tightly. After about 30 minutes when gurgling sounds are heard, open the drain hole. Milky syrup will continuously flow down into the lower vat.
- Transfer the syrup into a boiling pot and heat over high fire, stirring constantly. When it turns thick, use a wooden scraper to prevent burning until it becomes creamy malt syrup.
- Stir-fry 1 kg bean flour. Mix brown or white sugar with boiling water, then combine with malt syrup to form a large dough. Cut the dough into small pieces, roll into thin sheets, shape into different cuts and place on mats in a cool room. Serve once the candy hardens slightly.
Features
This homemade candy is firm, crisp, sweet and chewy with a rich bean flavor. It is high in protein, fat, vitamins, calcium, phosphorus and iron. Regular consumption helps relieve thirst and internal heat, tonify the body, aid digestion, stop diarrhea and soothe chest discomfort.
9. Western Xia Stone-Grilled Lamb
Cooking Method
- Take a 2-centimeter-thick stone slab from the Qilian Mountains, grind it flat. Heat the slab over charcoal or firewood and brush with oil.
- Rinse boneless lamb and cut into thin slices. Attach the slices onto the hot stone and cover with an earthen basin.
- Grind various seasonings into powder, mix with salt and cooking wine.
- Every 7 to 10 minutes during grilling, lift the basin and sprinkle seasonings over the lamb. Serve hot on plates once the lamb turns golden and fully cooked.
Nutritional Value
Lamb has tender flesh that is easy to digest. It is high in protein, low in fat and cholesterol, and rich in phospholipids. Warm and sweet in nature, lamb works as both daily food and herbal tonic. It boosts vital energy, warms the body, invigorates the kidney, builds muscle and strengthens immunity against cold.
10. Youxiang (Hui-style Fried Pastry)
A traditional folk pastry unique to the Hui people, a special name for fried dough cake among local Hui communities. Families fry youxiang to honor distinguished guests, celebrate a baby’s one-month or hundred-day ceremony, circumcision and weddings. It is also prepared for major Islamic festivals including Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and the Anniversary of the Prophet’s Death. People share youxiang with neighbors to celebrate together.
Hui people in Ningxia follow strict customs when making and eating youxiang. They perform religious ablutions before frying to maintain halal standards. By tradition, people tear the pastry along the cut with hands instead of biting directly.
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