Hand-grabbed mutton is a favorite food of Kazak, Mongolian, Uygur, Kirgiz, Tajik and other nationalities in Xinjiang. When you come to the grassland with abundant water plants in crisp autumn weather, you will be warmly welcomed by the simple and hospitable host whether you enter the yurt or the yurt. They will treat you with mutton. You should remember that refusing to eat meat is impolite and will be considered as looking down on the performance of the host. The best way is to eat with a big mouth, which is a sign of loyalty to friendship. The raw materials of pilaf are fresh mutton, carrot, onion, clear oil, sheep oil and rice. The practice is to chop the mutton into small pieces, fry it in clear oil, then fry the onions and carrots in a pot, and add some salt and water appropriately. After 20 minutes, put the washed rice into the pot without stirring. After 40 minutes, grab the rice and it will be cooked. The prepared pilaf is shiny and delicious. Uighurs think pilaf is a good meal. "mansaf", called "bono" in Uygur language, is one of the flavor foods that brothers such as Uighurs and Uzbeks entertain guests. On holidays, weddings, funerals and weddings, we must "grab meals" to entertain guests. Their traditional habit is to invite people to sit around the kang first, and put a clean tablecloth on the kang. Then the host held the basin in one hand and the pot in the other, and asked the guests to wash their hands one by one and handed them clean towels to dry. After all the guests wash their hands and sit down, the host brings a few plates of "grabbing rice" and puts them on the tablecloth (it is customary for two or three people to grab rice from the plates directly by hand). Therefore, it was named "pilaf". Now some families entertain Han guests, and generally have small spoons. There is another touching legend about pilaf. According to legend, more than a thousand years ago, there was a doctor named Abou-Ali Buxin. I was very weak in my later years, and taking a lot of medicine didn't help. Later, he studied a kind of rice for dietotherapy. He chose mutton, carrots, onions, clear oil, sheep oil and rice, and boiled them with water and salt. This kind of rice has the characteristics of color, fragrance and taste, which can arouse people's appetite. So he ate a small bowl in the morning and evening, and after half a month, his body gradually recovered. People around him were surprised and thought that he had eaten some panacea. Later, he passed this "prescription" on to everyone, and it became a popular pilaf among Uighurs. Whether this legend is true or not, we don't need to study it, but pilaf is a very nutritious food, but it is real. Sheep oil, onion, carrot and rice are all supplements containing various vitamins, especially carrots, which are called "small ginseng" and "ground ginseng". Cooking with such raw materials can certainly make people full. Nowadays, there are many kinds of Uygur pilaf, and the varieties of colors are very rich. In addition to vegetable oil, we also use animal sheep oil, bone marrow oil and ghee to make pilaf. Of course, the pilaf made of bone marrow oil has the highest nutritional value. In terms of meat, besides mutton, snow chicken, pheasant, domestic chicken, duck, goose and beef are also used. Snow chicken pilaf tastes best. But some pilaf is made of dried fruits such as raisins, dried apricots and peach peels instead of meat, which is called sweet pilaf or vegetarian pilaf, and it is equally delicious. In summer, Uighurs eat more kinds of pilaf. Uighurs in southern Xinjiang like to put a kind of "Bi Ye" (papaya) in their pilaf, and some people also put eggs and vegetables. The most interesting thing is to put some yogurt on the prepared pilaf, which is called "Kebei Bokno". It is not only the first-class food to satisfy hunger, but also the food to relieve summer heat. But now Uighurs are most particular about "Assimantu", that is, steamed stuffed bun pilaf. Put five or six thin wallets in each bowl of pilaf. Pilaf and pancakes are both good Uygur food. The combination of the two is really the best and icing on the cake. Only when VIPs, relatives and friends come will the host cook this kind of meal to entertain the guests. This quaint, unique, primitive and interesting way of eating meat will remind you of the ancient customs in northern Jiangnan, stir up ripples in your ocean of thoughts, and lead you to daydream, nostalgia, yearning and intoxication, thus making you nostalgic for the richness of Xinjiang grassland and the hospitality of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.