Hand-grabbed rice and mutton are the favorite foods of Kazak, Mongolian, Uygur, Kirgiz, Tajik and other ethnic groups in Xinjiang. When you come to the grassland rich in water and grass in the crisp weather, no matter you enter the yurt or the yurt, you will be warmly welcomed by the simple and hospitable host. They will treat you with mutton by hand. 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 big mouthfuls, which is a sign of loyalty to friendship.

The raw materials of pilaf are fresh mutton, carrots, onions, clear oil, sheep oil and rice. The practice is to chop the mutton into small pieces and fry them in clear oil, then fry the onions and carrots in the pot, and add some salt and water as appropriate. After 20 minutes, backwash the soaked rice and put it in the pot without stirring. After 40 minutes, grab the rice and it will be cooked. Cooked pilaf is shiny and shiny. Delicious and delicious. The Uighurs regard pilaf as a good meal.

"mansaf", called "bonuo" in Uygur language, is one of the flavor foods for executive guests of Uygur, Uzbek and other fraternal nationalities. On holidays, weddings and funerals, it is necessary to "grab a meal" to entertain guests. Their traditional habit is to treat people to sit around the kang first, with a clean table cloth in it. Then the host held the basin in one hand and the pot in the other, and asked the guests to rinse their hands one by one and handed them to clean towels to dry. After all the guests wash their hands and sit down, the host brings a few plates of "grab rice" and puts them on the table cloth (it is customary for two or three people to have one plate), and asks the guests to grab food directly from the plates with their hands. Therefore, it was named "grasping drinking". At present, some families usually have small spoons for Han guests.

There is also a touching legend about pilaf. According to legend, more than 1000 years ago, there was a doctor named Abu Ali Buisine. In his later years, he was very weak, and taking a lot of medicine didn't help. Later, he studied a kind of rice and carried out diet therapy. He chose mutton, carrots, onions, clear oil, sheep oil and rice, which were boiled with water and salt. This kind of rice has the characteristics of color, taste and fragrance, 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, and people around him were very surprised and thought he had taken some panacea. Later, he passed on this "prescription" to everyone, and it became a popular pilaf for Uighurs now.

Whether this legend is true or not, we don't have to study it, but pilaf is a very nutritious food, but it is real. Sheep oil, onion, carrot and rice are all supplements containing many vitamins, especially Hu Gebu, which is called "Little Ginseng" and "Radix Rehmanniae". Cooking with such raw materials certainly fills people up.

Nowadays, there are many kinds of pilaf among Uygur people, 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, 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. The pilaf with snow chicken tastes the best. However, some pilaf does not put meat, but uses raisins, dried apricots, peach peels and other dried fruits to make it, 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 also put eggs and vegetables. The most interesting thing is to put some yogurt on the prepared pilaf, which is called "Kebei Kebo Nuo". It is not only a first-class thing to satisfy hunger, but also a summer heat. Food, however, is the most important thing for Uighurs now: "Axi Man Tu", that is, steamed stuffed bun grabbing rice. Put five or six thin purses in each bowl of pilaf. The pilaf and the thin bag are both excellent Uygur meals. Combining the two together is really the best and the 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 and original and interesting way of eating meat will remind you of the ancient customs in the northern part of the Yangtze River, stir up ripples in the ocean of your thoughts, and lead you to daydream, nostalgia, longing and intoxication, thus making you feel nostalgic for the richness of Xinjiang grassland and the hospitality of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.