Shaanxi cuisine facts for kids

Shaanxi cuisine, also called Qin cuisine, comes from the cooking styles of Shaanxi Province and parts of northwestern China. It's known for its tasty noodles and lamb dishes.

Shaanxi food uses everyday ingredients to create amazing flavors. It's famous for its strong and complex tastes. You'll find lots of savory flavors like salt, garlic, onion, and vinegar. Sugar is rarely used in these dishes. The main ways to cook Shaanxi food are steaming, frying, and stir-frying.

Because Shaanxi is located between Shanxi and Sichuan provinces, its food has flavors from both. You might taste the sour and spicy notes of Sichuan cuisine along with the salty tastes of Shanxi. The main flavor of Shaanxi cuisine is called xiāng là (香辣), which means "fragrant spicy."

Shaanxi cuisine uses more noodles than most other Chinese foods. These noodles are usually thicker and longer than those found in Beijing cuisine or Shanxi cuisine. Shaanxi food can be quite spicy, but you can make it less spicy by adding soy sauce. Many different meats are used, such as duck, lamb, chicken, and beef. There are also vegetarian dishes that don't have meat. These dishes get their extra flavor from more spices, making them even spicier!

What are the Main Styles of Shaanxi Cuisine?

Shaanxi cuisine has three main regional styles:

• Northern Shaanxi style often uses steaming to cook food. Pork is the most common meat, but lamb and mutton are also very popular.
• Guanzhong style uses both pork and lamb or mutton. Dishes from this area have strong and rich flavors.
• Hanzhong style is similar to Sichuan cuisine. It is well-known for its spicy taste.

Popular Shaanxi Dishes to Try

Here are some famous dishes from Shaanxi cuisine:

English Name	Pinyin	What it is	Image
Biangbiang noodles	biángbiáng miàn	These noodles are famous for their very complex Chinese character.
Gourd head	húlú tóu	This dish is made from pig's large intestine. It's called "gourd head" because the intestine looks like the top of a gourd. It started as street food a long time ago.
Guokui	guōkuī	This is a large, round pancake made from flour. It's about a foot wide and an inch thick. Grandmothers traditionally give it as a gift when a grandson is one month old.
Hanzhong hot rice noodles	Hànzhōng rè mǐ pí	These are warm rice noodles from Hanzhong.
Lamb paomo	yáng ròu pào mó	In this dish, bread is torn into small pieces and put into a hot beef or mutton broth before serving.
Rose mirror cake	méiguī jìng gāo	This is a sweet pastry made from glutinous rice. It's round and looks like a mirror.
Roujiamo	ròujiāmó	Often called "Chinese hamburgers," this famous Shaanxi dish can now be found all over China.
Shaanxi style liangpi	Shǎnxī liángpí	These are cold wheat noodles served with a chili and vinegar sauce.
Spicy soup	hú là tāng	A popular spicy soup.

Images for kids

• 

  The complex Chinese character for Biangbiang noodles.