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Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region is the biggest Chinese province situated in the very heart of Asia. The Great Silk Road, which started from Changan, the capital of the Han Empire, on reaching Xinjiang split into several directions. In the ancient times in oases of Kashgar and Turfan, Hotan and Yarkend, which were situated on the caravan roates, there live and traded Sogdian merchants, the Uigurs cultivated the fertile lands of the valleys, whereas the Chinese tried to consolidate their hold on this strategic area. Thus in Xinjiang the cultural traditions of many peoples have been intertwined in an odd manner. The national cuisine of Xinjiang is a vivid example of such a conglomeration of traditions.
A guest in the Xinjiang house will be welcomed with etken-tea. To make etken-tea the local people boil black tea the salt and milk in a cauldron. Before drinking such tea they would add cream skimmed off the boiling milk or thoroughly fried sheep's fat, and crumble some wheat or corn flat cakes into it. Ecten-tea is served with kurt - dried cottage cheese made out of the sour milk. This nutritious tea is drunk, better to say eaten, from big bowls.
One of the favorite local dishes is soup umaya that looks like thin porridge made from corn flour and served with corn flat bread. Another rather popular dish is cold soup from unripe fruits, dressed with corn flour and served with young corn ears boiled in salty water.
In Xinjiang the every-day meal is shula - thin rice porridge with small pieces of mutton and sheep's fat, or grundji-ach - thick rice porridge with mutton and dried fruits. Sometimes Uighur hostesses make Uighur pancakes - tkhumpushkala remarkable for finely cut garlic being added into the batter before pouring it on the pan.
In Xinjiang it is believed that festive table should impress guests by the abundance of food and numerous changes of dishes. Usually, surpa - soup made from mutton with carrots, parsley and garden radish, is offered for a start. The main dish at the feast is plov made from rice and mutton, with onion, carrots, raisins and spices. The recipe of this meal came in Xinjiang from Central Asia. Plov is served with special puff cakes made from wheat flour with cream, spices, fresh or dried fruits being added to the pastry.
Traditional Uighur festive dish is sheep lights stuffed with the mix of oil and flour starch dissolved in water, which is then boiled in water. The guests will surely be offered the famous Uighur lagman. This is virtually a very typical meal for any region of China, where it is known as lyanmyan. To make lyanmyan the sheep brisket should be cut into pieces and then fried and stewed with onion, green pepper, garlic, tomatoes and spices. Then, separately boiled long noodles are coiled and put into the soup cup, whereas fried meat in sauce is placed above the noodles.
Unlike lagman the noodles for manpar are made from thinly rolled out dough then cut into big pieces. Chinese origin can be traced in such dishes as starch noodles ashlanfu, suygash - noodles with vegetables, mantu - wheat flour cookies stuffed with finely cut mutton and sheep fat, onion and pepper, which is then steamed in the special saucepan called kaskan.
As a titbit, fried cookies sambusa and smoked sausages stuffed with mutton and rice mix dressed with garlic, pepper and saffron will be traditionally served during the feast. The festive meal can't do without peculiar cakes gushnan - thin flat wheat cake, baked in the oven, with spicy meat and vegetable stuffing, or huluknan cookies with finely cut vegetable stuffing.
For the local New Year celebrations - Nauruz, which is traditionally celebrated in Xinjiang at the end of March, there should be cooked gurzha - porridge-like mass cooked from seven types of grain, and sumallyak - a mass cooked from germinated wheat grain.
After rich hot dishes guests are served with little cups of sinchai - Chinese flower tea.
And of course, different fruits - peaches, apricots, apples, pears, grapes, quince, water melons, melons, are the obligatory components of the Xinjiang festive meal.
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