Dunhuang snacks have a history of thousands of years and are still widely eaten today.
Among them, longevity alkaline noodles, paoer oil cake, mutton juice, red willow pimples, and donkey meat yellow noodles are particularly popular among locals and tourists.
Longevity Alkali Noodles Longevity Alkali Noodles, also called Saozi noodles, are a famous snack in Dunhuang. Speaking of its origin, there is a story.
A long time ago, in the area where Mogao Town is now located on the east side, there was a poor family, two couples and one son. They lived by guarding a few thin fields in front of and behind the house, working at sunrise and resting at sundown.
One evening, after finishing his work in the field, the old man was about to go home. He heard someone shouting in the distance. He hurriedly looked for the sound. Under a plane tree, he saw an exhausted woman sitting on the ground leaning against the tree. He was very surprised.
, hurriedly asked the girl where she came from.
The girl opened her chapped lips and told the story intermittently: It turned out that she was a southern businessman. She was passing through Dunhuang. She and her father were driving camels and carrying goods. They were robbed by bandits. In the chaos, the father and daughter were separated. She died trying to escape.
I ran until I got here. Seeing that it was getting dark and there was no one around, I felt timid, thirsty and hungry. I couldn't run anymore, so I called out loudly.
When the old man heard about it, he felt pity.
Who doesn't have to do something in his life? When he saw the lonely girl, he decided to take him home. While comforting him, he helped the girl back home.
My wife and son were very surprised to live a long life.
When he asked about the reason, the old man told his wife and son in a few words: The house of a girl is in chaos.
Just stay at our house for now, my wife and Changshou fully agree.
The girl is from the south. She is petite and well-mannered. She is very popular with the elders.
The son is dull and kind-hearted. When he meets the girl, he is shy and happy.
In a blink of an eye, the old man's birthday was coming soon. The girl thought, they have not repaid me for their kindness in taking me in. But looking around, she really didn't know what to do.
A few days ago, when she was helping to work in the fields, she saw leaf alkali leaking from the sycamore tree, and she wondered if she could put some in it when making dough.
She told no one.
When she was kneading the dough the next day, she mixed a little bit into it. The result was that the dough was a little yellow, and it was more flexible and stronger than before. She suddenly became happy.
I did it several times over and over again, and the effect was very good.
Decided to use this to celebrate the old man’s birthday.
In a blink of an eye, the old man's birthday came. This morning, she got up early, swept the courtyard, mixed the dough with leaf base, and kneaded it repeatedly.
I turned to the vegetable field and picked fresh eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, and the small mushrooms I usually pick, and together with the big meat, I made a delicious squid soup.
Roll out the dough thinly, roll it evenly, and cut it well.
A few more side dishes were prepared.
When the steaming, bright and yellow noodles were served on the kang table, the old couple and their son were very happy and praised them while eating.
Praising her for her good craftsmanship, bright mind, and longevity, she ate two large bowls at once.
I have lived in front of the sycamore tree all my life, how could I not think of it.
This matter was spread by word of mouth among the neighbors, and everyone rushed to learn from it, and it became a trend for a while.
The girl and longevity fell in love during labor, and soon their parents got married for them.
To thank the longevity wife for making the noodles, they called it longevity alkaline noodles.
Paoer oil cake Paoer oil cake is its current name.
In the earliest times, it was called mallet or mallet cake.
There is a record in the existing Dunhuang documents, p3231, in the official records of Pingkang Township.
Later, it was also called sugar oil cake.
Dunhuang has a long history, with a history of more than 1,200 years.
It is a traditional snack. At that time, from officials and businessmen to common people, it was an indispensable delicacy for every important banquet or New Year's Day.
In the past, the ingredients used were relatively simple, just flour and sugar, and then deep-fried and eaten immediately. It is best to eat it while it is hot, as it is more fragrant.
In the 1980s, the pastry masters from the catering department of Dunhuang Hotel made many improvements in the materials and production techniques based on crude oil cake making through going out to study and exchange.
In terms of ingredients, I added peach kernels, sesame seeds, roses, and lard, and repeated experiments to create a paoer oil cake with a soft surface, shaped like bubbles, and densely packed pearl bubbles.
At this point, Paoer Oil Cake has taken over all the color, flavor and flavor. It is also loved by tourists for its sweet and soft texture, which melts in your mouth and has a long aftertaste.
It is small and delicate, like Xiaojia Jasper, sweet yet dignified, round and golden in color, and has a unique taste when mixed with other dishes.
If you are in a bad mood, you will feel happy immediately after eating it.
There is a saying that goes like this: A beautiful woman pleases the eyes, and a good wife pleases the heart.
Paoer oil cake is more like a sweet and warm little cotton-padded jacket, a little caring and a little birdy. It makes you fall in love with it when you see it and still miss it after you say goodbye.
Mutton Juice Speaking of mutton jujube, Zhengjia Restaurant has to be mentioned.
Since ancient times, Dunhuang has been a semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral area. It can be said that eating mutton has a long history. It is also recorded in the Dunhuang posthumous documents, but they always eat hand-caught mutton and stewed mutton.