▲ piy? Z), which means onion in Persian. Photography/flying over the window d Young people's pictures/worms, creativity

-Scenery-

Why do I often have tears in my eyes?

Because I love Piyazi deeply

Maybe even Xinjiang people don't realize that Piyazi, that is, onion, is the role that xinjiang cuisine Li Lei can't play.

It's no wonder. Who called Xinjiang gourmet wife so amazing? Naan, that is the light of Xinjiang people's staple food; Mutton is enough to laugh at the world; There are also heroic pilaf, unique style of lasagna, small and exquisite baked buns … all of which make people rather lose weight than indulge in it.

▲ Naan, the light of staple food in Xinjiang! Photography/Tea Cup Stork/Picture Bug Creativity

However, these well-known delicacies in the "food-eating world" can't be separated from the cooperation of leather teeth, which is an indispensable ingredient in grabbing rice and pulling strips. Even the Xinjiang Grand Theatre in Urumqi is affectionately called "Piyazi Grand Theatre" because of its similar shape.

▲ Piyazi Grand Theatre in Urumqi. Photography/Great River L Map/Picture Worm Creativity

Leather teeth in a dish may be just a short-lived supporting role; However, looking at the whole Xinjiang flavor stage, it can be called a famous protagonist!

As garlic is to northerners and green onions are to Shandong people, cooking is indispensable, and eating raw is even more wild.

As the saying goes, "Eating meat without garlic is less than half the taste", for Xinjiang people who like mutton the most, leather teeth have replaced raw garlic and become a "sacred meat product" to help digestion, relieve boredom, enhance flavor, and even have the effect of reducing blood fat. Therefore, with a "skin" in hand, you can let go of your belly and eat meat, and have a carnival for meat eaters.

▲ Leather teeth are vegetables, so eating mutton is like wearing leather teeth, and rounding is also a weight loss. Photography/guardian angel picture/picture worm creativity

In Xinjiang, the most common mutton practice is undoubtedly stew. Good ingredients often only need to adopt the simplest cooking method. Large pieces of mutton are stewed in the pot until the meat is rotten. During this period, seasonings such as onion, ginger, salt and pepper are put in according to personal taste. However, after cooking, a large number of strips of leather teeth are essential.

The original stewed mutton is delicate and soft, with a strong meat flavor; Leather teeth are spicy and crisp, but the entrance is sweet. The tastes of the two are complementary, and the flavors are consistent. When the stewed mutton is tender and juicy, and the leather teeth are sweet and spicy, it is a "golden wind and jade dew meet", which is enough to win countless people.

▲ Retro enamel tea pots are the standard for pot meat. Photograph/User Wolf Map in the North/Figure Worm Creativity

The jar meat invented by Kashgar people is a pocket version of stewed mutton. Retro enamel tea pots are arranged on the stove, and ingredients such as mutton, carrots and leather teeth are added to them. In some places, some Xinjiang specialty "Chamagu" will be put. This time, mutton and Piyazi "had a long talk" in a small tea jar, and they were integrated in continuous stewing, and Piyazi disappeared without a trace, turning into the fragrance of meat and the sweetness of soup.

▲ A pinch of salt is enough to stimulate the flavor of mutton. Photographing/herding sheep baby's stars

And the most famous barbecue in Xinjiang needs leather teeth to assist.

The practice of barbecuing can be called "minimalist style": in terms of ingredients, mutton is often "three thin and one fat", and there is no need to brush oil, so the sheep oil in fat meat will naturally emerge and penetrate into lean meat; For seasoning, just sprinkle a handful of salt on it, or drop a pool of salt water on the plate, and at most add a handful of cumin, and the style of barbecue will be revealed.

when the time is ripe, spread the shiny kebabs on the naan, cut a few pieces of leather teeth and eat the meat bit by bit. The greasy taste brought by the oil is completely eliminated by the leather teeth, leaving only charming fireworks and lasting barbecue fragrance.

▲ authentic way to eat barbecue in Xinjiang. Photography /wangzfjuv map/picture worm creativity

In Urumqi and other places in northern Xinjiang, there is also a kebab called "stuffed skin" (pronounced like "CP"), that is, the spleen of a sheep is hollowed out, stuffed with bits of leather teeth, chopped fat mutton and chopped sheep liver, and then sealed and baked on the shelf. When the fat oil and the leather teeth are melted together, the rich aroma of the fat and the fragrance of the leather teeth are intertwined, and the taste of the birth is not lost.

Besides mutton, Piyazi is also the companion of horse meat, beef and other ingredients. Generally speaking, the lower floor of Naren in Kazak nationality is paved with a lot of horse meat and leather teeth on the upper floor, and then a pot of milk tea is boiled to relieve boredom and digestion; There is also a kind of "horse intestines", where horse meat is stuffed into the horse intestines, cut into thin slices and eaten with leather strips.

▲ Ma Changzi is a unique Xinjiang cuisine. Photography/no coming, no going, no drawing/figure worm, creativity

Therefore, for Xinjiang people, mutton is indeed an irreplaceable overlord at the dinner table, while leather teeth are an irreplaceable partner of mutton. Xinjiang is "mutton-flavored" and also "leather teeth-flavored".

if it is said that the leather teeth are only an aid in beating mutton, it is the core ingredient in the staple food. Among the three staple foods in Xinjiang-Nan, mansaf and lasagna, the leather teeth can "make a debut" and control the whole audience.

▲ Leather teeth in Xinjiang. Photography/LAN Lan Map/Figure Worm Creativity

Nan, firmly sitting at the top of Xinjiang people's staple food. However, few outsiders know that crispy Nan cakes are often coated with salt water and chopped onions before baking, and then baked in Nan pits. Under the catalysis of heat, the flour cake swells and turns into a piece of brown, and the leather teeth will turn into black particles attached to it, and the spicy and slightly sweet flavor will penetrate into the naan, making its taste richer and layered.

when the baked naan comes out of the pit, the wheat fragrance of naan cake mixed with the fragrance of leather teeth floats leisurely, and it makes people feel as if they are in a farm in late autumn, the wind blows the wheat waves, the land is fresh, and the eyes are full of mature golden color.

▲ You need onions to match naan with meat. Photography/Mu Tu _21 Picture/Tu Chong Creativity

In Xinjiang's pilaf, soy sauce and curry are not added at all, and spices such as ginger, star anise and pepper are not added for seasoning. Only the original rice, mutton, carrots, yellow radish and our protagonist Piyazi are stir-fried, blended and interwoven in a large pot, and only mutton and vegetables are emitted.

When cooking pilaf in Xinjiang, most people use a very thick iron pot, so that the heat conduction is slow and the heat can be slowly and continuously dissipated, and the process of "stewing" can be completed. After a long stew, the table was finally served, but it was difficult for diners to find the whereabouts of Piyazi in the rice. After seasoning, it had already "brushed its clothes" and melted itself into the hot pilaf. You couldn't see its figure, but there were traces of it everywhere in the pilaf.

▲ A large pot of fried and stewed pilaf is amazing enough. Photography/Happy Photographer cdf Map/Figure Bug Creativity

Compared with the low-key in the pilaf, Piyazi is in a big fanfare in Xinjiang, but it is sweeping all directions.

How many kinds of lasagna are there in Xinjiang? Noodles with minced meat, noodles with spicy eggs, noodles with eggplant meat, noodles with leek meat, noodles with oily meat ... There are dozens of them to say the least, and they can't be counted at all. Even people in Xinjiang often eat noodles without being picky about food, and they have a big plate in hand. Different regions have different styles. However, only the leather teeth can't be shaken, and it is almost a versatile existence in the pasta industry.

▲ According to friends in Xinjiang, only dishes and noodles are packed separately, which is the authentic way to eat noodles in Xinjiang. Photography/Guo Lu LuGuo Map/Figure Bug Creativity

The essence of the "tripod-carrying" spaghetti with oily meat is oil. No matter whether it is a large piece of meat, gluten noodles or bright-colored dishes, it is rendered full house by oil. However, oil can make a plate, and it can also make the surface too greasy. The appearance of leather teeth neutralizes the greasy feeling for the most part, and then a few cloves of garlic are combined to make people's appetite big.

Xinjiang people's love for their hometown needs to be spicy enough to cry.

In the night market where the lights are on, people in Xinjiang often ask for a plate of "skin spicy red"-skin teeth+peppers+tomatoes, which is regarded as an appetizer before meals. These three ingredients, whether sour or spicy or sweet with spicy, are all good at stimulating appetite, and then a few mouthfuls of "Desperate Wusu" are poured, and a night full of fireworks will begin.

▲ "skin spicy red", also called "tiger dish", as the name implies, is a combination of skin tooth, pepper and tomato. Photography/Big Zoom, Small Eyes/Picture Worm, Creativity

When the barbecue is staged, Xinjiang people have to serve another plate of leather teeth strips. One hand holds the meat-it can be barbecue, roast leg of lamb, roast kidney, roast lamb chops, roast liver, etc., and the other hand grabs a few strands of leather teeth and stuffs them into the mouth, making the mouth a battlefield where meat and vegetables are tit for tat, and it is time to retreat.

Another kind of Xinjiang roasted steamed stuffed bun, which is mainly made of bits of leather and teeth, can be used as breakfast or afternoon tea, and is also highly sought after as a midnight snack.

▲ Hotan's is the cutest baked buns. Photographing/herding sheep baby's stars

There are baked buns in many places in Xinjiang, but Hotan baked buns are round and famous for their flavor. Although the steamed stuffed bun is not big, the thin dough is almost filled with meat stuffing, among which diced lamb leg, diced sheep oil and shredded leather teeth are "three points of the world", especially the sheep oil and leather teeth work together to make the baked steamed stuffed bun extremely fresh and juicy, rich in layers and sweet in taste.

The freshly baked baked steamed stuffed bun has the best flavor, but it is hard and round, and it is hard to eat. People in Xinjiang often end up with a bowl of local medicinal tea, first buckle the flat one down, wait until the dough is tender, pry it open from the bottom with a knife to form an "edible small bowl" filled with concentrated broth, eat the meat and soup while it is hot, then eat the dough soaked in gravy into the stomach, and finally, even the medicinal tea is not spared, sipping it and leaving smartly.

▲ Take a bite of the steamed stuffed bun when it's not looking. Figure/"Breakfast in China Season 2"

Just like resenting that foreigners only say "kebabs" and don't know about barbecue, Xinjiang people are always stranded in a foreign land, and they are always helpless because people at the same table can't understand the beauty of "eating raw leather teeth". After all, when it is used as an onion, it is only a dispensable condiment; However, when it becomes a leather tooth, it is enough to make a meal lively and fragrant.

Therefore, when homesick, every tooth represents the homesickness of Xinjiang people, peeling off one layer of homesickness, sometimes with a sweet aftertaste, and sometimes with tears streaming down her face.

"Did you choke on onions?"

"no, I'm homesick."

-END-

Wen Shu September

* Special thanks to Kut and Lao Li.