Noodles & staples · Xinjiang
Xinjiang Polo (Hand-Pulled Rice)
抓饭 — The Uyghur pilaf: rice steamed in lamb fat with carrots, onions and whole lamb shanks — comfort food across the whole northwest, eaten with the hand in the old…
Polo (polo/pilaf) is the everyday backbone of Xinjiang eating: huge kazan cauldrons of rice cooked in rich lamb stock, layered with yellow and orange carrots, and crowned with slow-cooked lamb that shreds under the spoon. Raisins or chickpeas mark the celebration versions.
The best bowls come from unmarked lunch counters where the rice is cooked fresh twice daily and runs out. In Kashgar and Turpan the dish comes with bowls of yogurt drink (kefir) to cut the richness; in Urumqi it is the standard taxi-driver lunch.
Where to eat it
- Urumqi and Kashgar polo lunch counters
- Turpan town restaurants
- Grand Bazaar food halls in Urumqi
Routes that eat their way here
More dishes to know
- Chongqing Xiao Mian (重庆小面)
- Claypot Rice (煲仔饭)
- Wonton Noodles (云吞面)
- Biangbiang Noodles (biángbiáng面)
- Lanzhou Hand-Pulled Beef Noodles (兰州牛肉面)
- Crossing-the-Bridge Rice Noodles (过桥米线)