Turpan Dining

Overview
Turpan is rich in the food culture. Sichuan food, Cantonese food and other delicacies can be found here. Meanwhile, uygur snacks with authentic local style and islamic halal food are also gathered here.Turpan is a typical uygur-style food, with all the signature foods such as pilaf, various kinds of pasta, as well as roast mutton and so on. Turpan is the birthplace of xinjiang's dapan chicken.There are several local food that visitors are recommended to eat in their visiting in Turpan, such as lamb rice pilaf, nang, roasted mutton leg, grapes, Xinjiang lamb pilaf hand, noodles served with soy sauce, etc.

What to eat in Turpan
Most Famous Dishes in Turpan
1) Xinjiang Lamb Pilaf
It is one of the favor foods of Uyghur and Uzbek people and has a long history. The main ingredients of it are rice, lamb chop, carrots, and onions. It has lots of categories as well.

2) Baked Mutton Kebabs
Baked Mutton Kebabs is very famous all around China. Kebabs can be found in the streets and bazaars throughout Xinjiang. Chunks of mutton are strung on a skewer and roasted over charcoal. The kebabs are turned continually, and when they are almost done, salt, pepper and other seasonings are sprinkled on them. Kebabs look crispy outside and taste tender inside, slightly salty and hot.

3) Lamian Noodle
Lamian Noodles or Hand-pulled Noodles are a very popular dish throughout Northwest China, especially in the Hui ethnic community. Chefs stretch and double a single lump of noodle dough several times in succession to create very thin strings noodles. Lamian Noodles can be served with beef or mutton either in soup or stir-fried. Caraway is the most common herb when Lamian Noodle is served in soup and is regarded as indispensable.

4) Xinjiang Big Plate Chicken
The dish got its name because of big plate using. There are 2 kind of big plate chicken: Shawan Big Plate Chicken and Chaiwobao Big Plate Chicken. The former has thick juice and is eaten with staple food, and the later one is fried and then stir-fried with pod pepper. It belongs to Moslem snacks.

Famous Snacks in Turpan
1) Roasted Dumplings
The roasted dumplings are make of mutton with some fresh onions, pepper and salt. Wrapping the stuffing are the important process when you make it, then people will roast the dumplings for around 20 minutes.When it finished, you wil have a crispy skin and tender stuffing dumplings. It is a very simple to make a roasted dumpling but with delicious taste. It is one of local snack popular by locals.

2) Nang
As one of the staple foods of the local, nang is a kind of cake taking wheat as ingredients and adding with other food like eggs, milk, onions, etc.

3) Sanzi
It is one of the Hui snacks eaten at festivals. It is considered as a table delicacy for giving guests a special treat. To make Sanzi, you should mix the flour with oil, Chinese prickly ash and egg white to make dough. And then, pull the dough into thin noodles and deep-fry the noodles in oil for several minutes.

Fruits in Turpan
As a result of its unique weather characteristics, Turpan is abundant with fruits like grapes and watermelons and in China is widely known as "the City of Grapes". Among the grape varieties, the seedless white grape is especially well known and many farms have drying towers for turning them into raisins. The local raisins are renowned world wide for their beautiful dark green luster, high sugar count and rich in vitamin C content.

Where to eat in Turpan
Turpan Night Market
This is a nice small bazaar; it is not grand and big like the Urumqi bazaar, but this one is more for local people for their daily necessities like clothing and food. Good for people watching.Outside and around this area is the "Night Market", which is only for local food stalls and local food restaurants.You could try the four famous food of Turpan at the night market, Bean Noodles (, made of a type of bean, which can only be found at the night market in Turpan but not across China), steamed pilaf with raisin, fried chicken (, the chicken comes from the cocks which are beaten by other cocks in the cockfighting) and steamed mutton with carrots.

Guanghui Street or Bezeklik Road
At downtown of Turpan, it's a local snack street which is the best place to try the local specialties. People can find inexpensive, but delicious, local snacks in a very wide range of selections, such as roast dumplings, Ququ, Saozi, roast mutton and spicy chicken.Virtually, it is a feast for your eyes and mouths!

Some Popular Restaurant in Turpan
1) Hanzada Restaurant
Popular with locals for its diner-style booths and ornate Central Asian decor (think painted alabaster and chintzy chandeliers). The picture menu helps sort out the noodles from the polo and Xinjiang Big Plate Chicken which is spicy chicken with potatoes and peppers, all of which are excellent.

2) Kadinas Taamliri
This excellent Uyghur place is popular with local families coming for a feast, and has a large photo menu that runs the gamut of Uyghur cooking, from multiple ways to cook lamb to delicious 'Uyghur pizza'.