Qinghai traditional food,cuisine,snacks

Located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Qinghai is the birth-place of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers. With an elevation of 2,500-4,500 m, Qinghai has been one of the important pasture areas in China.

The geography and cultural environment of Qinghai have decided on the province’s diversity of foods. Qinghai is inhabited by Han, Tibetan, Hui, Sala, Mongolia, and Kazak ethnic groups; the people of every ethnic minority group live in compact communities, and each ethnic group shows its own unique dietetic style. Qinghai is adjacent to Tibet. Since ancient times, Qinghai and Tibet have conducted frequent economic and cultural exchanges with each other. Accordingly, the Tibetan people in Qinghai eat similar food with the Tibetan people.

To adapt to the plateau climate featuring oxygen deficiency, Qinghai dishes and snacks are mainly made of beef, mutton and milk products; and many dishes combine meat with wheaten foods. A saying goes: “The inland people enjoy dishes, and the Qinghai people eat steamed buns."

To a certain extent, Qinghai cuisine is more affected by halal food, but there are some differences. Its recipe is featured by the nomadic, carefree style, with beef and mutton and other local specialties as the main ingredients. Qinghai cuisine’s cooking methods include stir-frying, roasting, grilling, steaming, cooking, stewing, etc.. With sour, spicy, mellow, crisp as the taste characteristics, Qinghai cuisine has its unique and abundant diet system of plateau nationalities.

Qinghai cuisine is characterized by mellow, softly crisp, crisp and tender, hot and sour. It contains the mellow taste of northern cuisines, the hot and spicy taste of Sichuan cuisine, and the fresh and sweet taste of southern cuisines.

● Some Famous Dishes and Snacks of Qinghai

01. Fried Dough Pieces with Mutton

Fried Dough Pieces with Mutton is a famous snack of Qinghai. Procedure: Make a dough with flour; prepare nail-shaped noodles with the dough and boil it; fry the noodles together with the fried beef, mutton, garlic bolts, starch noodles, snack melons, and eggplants. This snack is refreshing, smooth, delicious and nutritious, and loved by both the old and the young.

02. Liangpi

Liangpi (cold noodles) is another popular snack in Qinghai. Dough, rinsed in clear water until it becomes gluten, is cooked in a food steamer. The Cold Noodle can be yellow or black, very thin, and tasty. It can be served as a main dish, or appetizer to go with wine and liquor.

03. Qinghai Hand Grab Mutton

Hand Grab Mutton is a famous local delicacy of the Qinghai grasslands. It is not only a restaurant dish but also the staple food of the herdsmen. Although the mutton does not need to be cut or fried, this dish still has a special color, fragrance, taste and form.

04. Lamb Kebabs

Lamb Kebabs are made of fresh lamb.They are not only delicious, but also nutritious and easy to digest.So this local cuisine become the popular food in every hotel and restaurant. Qinghai is rich in lamb, and the Lamb Kebabs are cheap, delicious and easy to make, so they became very popular here.

05. Ga Noodle

The Ga noodle in Qinghai is the most characteristic homemade pasta in the Northwest. This patch is not picked up with a rolling pin, but is picked up by hand. Because it is mixed with different soups and sauces to form different flavors, some are made into noodle soup, some are made into fried noodles, and each method has its own characteristics.

06. Qinghai Yogurt

As a cold drink on the plateau, yogurt is well received by the people all over Qinghai Province because it is as white as ice cream, as smooth as fair and delicate skin, and as tasty as litchi.

Usually yogurt you see in Xining is filled in small bowls, which are stacked with a piece of glass on each storey. You can require some sugar on yogurt to your own taste.