Greetings Steemians! This last month, I've taken us to some really diverse and tasty food experiences, we have enjoyed classic afternoon tea, explored Oyster culture, marvelled at new sushi innovations, tasted the smokey Xi'an barbecue and revelled in a crayfish feast. As a a huge foodie, today i'll be sharing with you yet another food extravaganza! But first, a question.. Would you accept eating food as you walk? In Xi'an China, there is a really long street which at night time awakens, the smell of the steam and smoke attracts people from all around. Everybody who comes to this street is now embarking on a journey to becoming a mini night market connoisseur. So, let's explore and see what Xi'an delicacies we'll discover.
Xi'an isn't known for just being an ancient city, it's also known for being a city of really tasty food. This buzzing street of food is known as Hui Min Street, Hui are an ethnic minority group of Chinese Muslims, and as the name implies, this street is where you'll find nearly all of Xi'an's Hui food delicacies. During the Tang dynasty, Xi'an welcomed the arrival of large numbers of Muslim people who have stayed here to this day. This street is also one of the main places they live at. The area is home to around 300,000 Hui people and account for 76% of Xi'an's total ethnic minority population.
As you enter this street, you immediately get a sense of it's strong ties to Hui culture. The street has trees that guard the pedestrians which now cover nearly the whole street. Either side of the street, you'll see many male and female Muslims verbally advertise their food inviting you to take a look and try their food. All the food stalls are very down to earth, and the prices are very reasonable. The idea is to take small bites so that you can taste as many different food's as possible and continue this way till you're full. I was looking forward to tasting everything making my way from the start of the street to the very end. Unfortunately my stomach isn't big enough and I was already full after just five stalls.
Hui Food Speciality
- Muslims do not eat Pork, so their meat dishes use primarily Beef or Lamb meat.
- Halal dishes are fresh if a bit salty. They pay particular attention to the seasoning and accompanying condiments.
- Hui people take food hygiene very seriously as well as the nutritional and medical benefits of the food they make. In a normal night market in China, you can't always expect the food to be hygienic and often people will have episodes of diarrhoea after visiting those markets. With Hui night markets you won't have to worry. Just take a look at the spotless tables and see.
The queue for the Smelly Tofu starts at the front of the stall and winds its way all the way to the middle of the street. As you can imagine, this Smelly Tofu stall is very famous around here. Smelly Tofu is made from Soybean that has been doused in water and turned into Jellied bean curd. This jellied bean curd is then cut into bite size rectangular chunks and drained of water, they are then fried in oil. Their smell comes from the fermented amino acids combined with the brine and marinade. Halal smelly tofu differs from regular smelly tofu in that, it isn't actually smelly. This is just down to them using less of the smelly brine and more of their own custom condiments.
It's hard to resist being excited over the tasty food. My expression is .. exaggerated.
You haven't tasted real Lamb Skewer kebabs until you've tasted them Hui style. You can see the meat skewers are like branches, and that's because that's exactly what they are! In fact, these branches are from a special tree called Tamarisk and the the branches help to reduce the fervent smells as well as help add some addition flavour into the smokey mix. The Hui people like to enjoy their kebabs with large chunks of meat, usually it'll take more than just a few chews to eat one piece. The taste however is delicious, the meat has just the right amount of spice to make it pop in your mouth, and the meat isn't tough at all.
Here is the Hui style meat pie crispy pancake. It's best eaten with egg and liquor or red bean porridge. Either way, it leaves a lasting taste that will linger in your memory for a long time. A friend of mine told me that they grew up eating this dish, if one day, the owner changed, they would probably never eat this dish again. It's amazing that people can be so fixated to one taste.
This stall is more like a restaurant and is opened by Jia San. Due to the success of this stall, he's now considered famous in Xi'an. I relish the opportunity to visit this place and have a good taste of his famous Soup Dumplings. These are basically dumplings which are served with Soup inside the actual dumpling. How do you get soup into the dumpling you might ask? It can't be from injecting soup into the dumpling after wrapping them right? In actual fact, the soup comes from the meat inside which was cooked in it's own broth before being wrapped carefully to ensure the soup doesn't leak.
Soup dumplings have to be served intact with no leakage, and the bamboo cages they steam the dumplings in will have a thin layer of rice paper to preserve the dumpling structure whilst it is being steamed. Each and every time this dish is served, the white piece of paper which the dumplings sit on must be checked for no leaks of soup. Arriving at the table with no soup leakage is a testament to the skill of the chef!
Credit to sogou.com
After dinner, I decided on having this special flower shaped candy floss for dessert. It's the first time I've seen such a large candy floss and the first time I've found it difficult to actually eat candy floss because of how beautiful it is.
And just like that, my dinner meal is complete. I've tasted so many different dishes here and yet, it only represents a small fraction of what's to offer here at the Hui Night market. There will be many more opportunities to taste other delicious food here in the future for sure.
亲爱的Steemit朋友们，还记得在上个月中我们一起体验了英式下午茶的优雅，Oyster的文化，Sushi的创意，还有中国式烧烤和小龙虾的蒸汽诱惑，今天的我作为吃货的身份又忍不住想要分享美食经验来啦，你们准备好了吗？先问你们一个问题吧，边走边吃的晚餐你们可以接受吗？在中国西安有一条长长的街，在夜晚时分整条街都飘散着浓浓的蒸汽和诱人的香味，来到这条街上的每一个人都有机会当一次行走的美食家，走吧，让我们一起去发现西安特色小吃街的美食艺术。
西安不仅是中国著名的古城，也是吃货城。这条小吃街的名字叫做“回民街”，顾名思义这里集中了几乎全西安回民小吃店，据说古代唐朝对外开放所以吸引了大量穆斯林定居在长安一带，所以这条街也成了主要的回民居住地，现如今这里居住着30万回族同胞，占西安少数民族总人口的76%。走进这条浓郁的穆斯林文化和氛围的小吃街，在傍晚绿树掩映的街道上人头攒动，许多戴白帽围着盖头的穆斯林男女信徒在街头两边吆喝着卖小吃分外引人注目。这条汇聚西安小吃的美食街非常接地气又物美价廉，让我有机会当一回美食家，体验每家店只吃一口小吃，换着种类吃，直到吃饱为止。来之前我非常期待自己可以从街头一直吃到街尾，无奈胃不大的我只吃了5家店就饱了。
回民小吃的特点：
1.伊斯兰教规定，不吃猪肉，所以尽管小吃千百种，荤菜大多以牛羊肉为主。
- 清真菜的口味偏重咸鲜,用料极为讲究, 注重香料的使用。
- 回民做的小吃特别强调食品卫生和食物的医疗价值，在中国正常的夜市，难免因为吃得食物种类太杂，食材不新鲜导致拉肚子。但是在清真的夜市就大可不必担心了，看看他们一尘不染的桌子就知道了。
从门前一直排到街道中间的队伍就能看出，这是一家有名的臭豆腐店。臭豆腐是将黄豆用水泡发，制成为豆腐脑，然后将豆腐脑上压上重石块，压去水分，即成豆腐放入油锅中炸，放入特定的作料。臭豆腐的臭味来源于发酵蛋白质产生的臭味氨基酸或者臭卤水。然后清真臭豆腐用料最为干净，完全没有臭味，吃起来外焦里嫩，鲜而香辣。
没有抑制住激动的心情，表情有点。。。夸张
吃了回民街才知道什么叫做真正的羊肉串，红柳枝烤羊肉串是用粗粗的柳枝穿成肉串，柳枝可以帮助羊肉串去除羊肉的膻味, 也平添几分红柳的树香，更具地道特色。回民喜欢挑选超级大块的羊肉穿成串现烤，所以等候的时间就略长，并且嘴小的我要咬上3、4口才能吃掉一块。一咬下去发现肉质太鲜嫩了，火候烤得刚刚好，并且那独特的香料点缀是得整体的味道加分数倍。一般最好吃火爆的店铺都没有桌椅，所以我站在烤肉师傅旁边慢慢品味。
尝一口现做的馅饼，酥脆感十足，清凉的鸡蛋甜酒或者红豆粥是最佳搭配，让人回味无穷。朋友告诉我，他是吃这家馅饼长大的，如果哪天做馅饼的阿姨换人了，他可能一辈子都不会再吃馅饼了。原来有一种味道会成为人们心中的眷念和牵挂，是无可替代的。
这家贾三灌汤包子店铺，还没有进门就感觉到热腾腾的蒸汽飘香。贾三是西安城的名人，这次有机会品味贾三先生透彻人心的清真和美轮美奂的技艺。西安的灌汤包是一种皮薄如薄纸的包子，包子里面神奇的灌上了汤。你一定好奇这是怎么办到的。难道是用某个工具将汤灌进了包子里？原来这汤本已在馅里面，在包之前把牛骨髓原汤打在馅中，再用特殊技法包好。灌汤包讲究汤不能漏，包子又要不粘笼屉，包子就像古代时候一层窗户纸，不捅不漏，这就全靠大师的高超技艺了。
饭后甜点我选择了花朵棉花糖，第一次看到这么大的棉花糖，花色那么可爱都不忍心下口了。
就这样一顿晚餐，露天的环境下行走着品味了好多家美食，其实这只是小小的一部份，还有更多的特色美食在等待你来发现。
If you are interested in my other blogs related to food please check out these other blogs below
Food Friday! Japanese foods help to refresh the taste buds in the mouth .
Summer is the time for BBQ'——a look at Xi'an's famous BBQ.
Swimming-with-the-crayfish .
Girls have an appetite for pretty food or tasty food.
