Xinjiang - spicy lamb stew

[centrejack]

Bob M this is somewhat directed toward you since you seem to be my Chinese oracle.

I originally posted this on the What's my craving, but it is my craving right now and I want to find a place in Manhattan (yes I know it is a long shot)

When I was in Xian in China I had a spicy lamb or goat stew. It was really an interesting experience. You start out will bowls and a very hard biscuit (almost like hardtack - yes I have tasted hardtack). You tear the biscuit into pieces and place them in the bowl. They then pour this incredibly spicy and filling stew over them. Has anyone else had this dish before? Has anyone seen it in NYC?

It is usually served with a whole bunch of condiments like pickled garlic and other additions to make it more spice or even fresh herbs.

[cbarbash]

Hi recently rejoined member Cbarbash here. The dish you enjoyed is indeed Muslim-style Chinese cuisine and is called "po mo." (pronounced paw-maw). You probably ate it at my favorite Xian restaurant, "Prosperity and Fortune," right downtown near the Drum Tower. I've not yet found it in NY, though there was a New York Magazine article on street eats a few months ago that mentions a good place for chuanr (Xinjiang skewered lamb), whose proprietor might know of a place. Also, I'm going to try Cafe Kashkar next week, and will ask the owners if they can make it special with advance notice. It is indeed a marvelous dish, and glad to find someone else here who knows and loves it.

[Brian S]

Someone just found a Xi'an food stall in a food court in Flushing and posted an incredibly detailed report with photos! You might be able to find what you want there!

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/370750

[Brian S]

I just phoned that food stall (from Oklahoma) and asked them in my limited Mandarin if they have it, and the man answered (in English) that YES THEY HAVE IT!!!

[Gary Soup]

It's called Yang Rou Pao Mo. I've linked a couple of pictures below, from Xi'an. I don't know if ir's common in Xinjiang, but if it is I'm guessing they might have it at Cafe Kashkar, in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn.

http://eatingchinese.org/photogallery/photo041/sxxa31.jpg

http://eatingchinese.org/sxxa36.jpg

[Peter Cherches]

Kashkar doesn't really have the Uighur dishes that lean toward the Chinese (and I don't think it's very good anyway)--Restaurant Uyghur in Montreal does, though.

[centrejack]

Sorry it started as a Manhattan search and spiraled out of control.

[The Chowhound Team]

A quick reminder. If you've got spicy lamb stew recommendations in Manhattan, share 'em here. If you've got recommendations in China, please start a thread on our China board: http://www.chowhound.com/boards/46 Thanks!

[centrejack]

Brian - a little off topic - one of the other dishes I had in China that was incredibly memorable was in Shanghai in a very good (and I think well known) Shanghainese restaurant. Sweet and Sour Cod. It was amazing, not battered fried or sauteed. I think it was actually baked and glazed with a true Shanghai sweet and sour sauce. Ever have anything like it?

[Brian S]

Maybe West Lake Fish? That's a speciality of nearby Hangzhou. http://www.flavorandfortune.com/dataa... I've found it in Flushing and it might well be available in a Shanghai restaurant in Manhattan. Here's my Flushing description; the restaurant I ate it ate went downhill after that:

The fish arrived after half an hour and I immediately saw it was worth the wait. It had been split from head to tail, so it looked like two fish swimming in a dark red sauce. One half was a filet, the other had all the bones. The fish was wonderfully tender and fresh (unlike at some Manhattan Shanghainese places). The sauce was wonderful. Subtle, complex and elegant. It was made with rich black Shaoxing vinegar, with just enough sugar to give it depth, and topped with a forest of cilantro. I'd never had anything like it

[centrejack]

One more thing - the guides are licensed through the state and are required to pass knowledge based tests. So they have a lot of facts, and if you have a good one they go above and beyond the normal info. I also hired a private guide in Beijing.

[centrejack]

Most of the restaurants are spotty - I especially hated the meal at the dinner theater where they performed the Tang Dynasty dances and songs. I would describe the dish and ask the hotel where to get it, also I highly recommend hiring a car and guide. If you are explicit about what type of food you want then they will take you - I always ask people what their favorite restaurant is that is not just for tourists.

If you have chinese friends let them arrange the guide throught the China tourist offices, if you hire a guide from states side it will cost a lot more.Ours was great - she was a University student who spoke very good english. We offered her a job if she was willing to move to Beijing! I don't think she wanted to move. I was there in '02 and the guide + the driver was $200 for two days, and I split it with a colleague.

[centrejack]

Thanks for the great info - but one question - the native food of Xian is the same as Xinjiang. Also, I was looking at the map, because I thought they were pretty close - they are both in the Shaanxi provence, and both are in the central Shaanxi provence. Am I getting my cuisines confused.

[Simon]

i'd never heard of this lamb stew before, but now i want it!

i'll be going to Xian within the next year or so, i guess i'll have to try it there...any restaurant recs there?

[Brian S]

Better to ask on the China board... but they have very few posts on Xian

http://www.chowhound.com/boards/46

[Brian S]

Xinjiang (aka Sinkiang) is thousands of miles away from Xian. It's a vast desert realm which has a border with Pakistan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang

[centrejack]

Thanks Brian - your guidebook description jives perfectly with my experience. I spent a long weekend on break from work in Xian. We hired a guide and a car for the two days - it is so cheap to have your own guide there! Most of the food I had was unremarkable espeically a meal that she set up that included a performance in a kind of cheesy dinner theater. However, when we finally got her to take us to Xinjiang restaurant that she liked and that had traditional dishes we ended up at a quite nice restaurant on a deserted local street without a tourist in sight. The lamb dish actually looked more like your spicy fish stew in the flickr site. With a nice hot kick. Also they had the boxes planted with peashoots out front that they would trim and quickly cook until bright green and aromatic - much like the neighborhood cantonese restaurant I would eat at often in Shenzhen - but would add chili flakes to give it a little more spice and interest.

The blending of cultures there is astonishing and ancient. Where many parts of China seemed to me to have very distinct ethnic and culinary identities, Xian was a melting pot. There is a muslim influence on the food and a muslim population in the city, but the city was an early incubator of Buddhism - witness the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. I found the city to be gritty and historic and sometimes tawdry and sometimes elegant. Thats just my two cents.

[Brian S]

Xian (which is far east of Xinjiang) was the capital of China 1200 years ago, called Chang'an, and it was as you describe (a lot like NYC). Here's something from my previous writing about Xian then as it relates to food:

Chang'an, the capital, sprawled over 30 square miles and had 2 million inhabitants. The huge markets selling goods from Byzantium and Arabia, the capital's 2000 companies engaged in foreign trade, and its numerous temples, churches and mosques, all bore witness to the high degree of contact China maintained with the outside world.It was a time of cultural excellence. It was also a time of culinary innovation. The sybaritic art of gracious living flourished, and court poets such as Li Bai and Du Fu described the elaborate, Versailles-like fetes and revels of the day. Foreigners who settled in Chang'an brought their cooking with them, and the foods of central Asia could be found in the wineshops of the city's huge Western Market.

[Bob Martinez]

Brian S. is the real Chinese food guru. I just have a piece of the Szechuanese concession. If we shine the Crossed Chopsticks searchlight in the sky maybe he'll answer.

[Brian S]

Thank you for this. I've copied it and saved it as a file on my computer. Unfortunately I know little about Xinjiang food. When I went there years ago, most of what I ate was bad Chinese food in hotel dining rooms. All I can find about cuisine in the guidebook to China that I wrote is a warning, "Xinjiang food has a reputation for causing diarrhoea" But I've found dishes similar to the stew you described on the Internet. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ulteriorepicure/222931807/in/set-72157594248482151/ I think your best bet in NYC is Cafe Kashgar. http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0...

I did find something I wrote in the guidebook that gives a clue as to the potential variety (and origins) of Xinjiang cuisine: "It is hardly surprising, in light of the volume and variety of commerce that passed through them [the Silk Road oases in the first millenium] that the lush oases of Xinjiang were extremely cosmopolitan. Their inhabitants were Caucasians who spoke Indo-European languages, their religion was Buddhism, and their art and culture were a synthesis of Indian, Persian and Hellenic elements."

[Bob Martinez]

"All I can find about cuisine in the guidebook to China that I wrote is a warning, "Xinjiang food has a reputation for causing diarrhoea" "

I've copied that and saved it on *my* computer. Happy holidays Brian.