Daily meal
Most Hui people living in cities cook beef and mutton buns at home for breakfast, or roast them with fried pickles, or eat them with pickled beef and mutton, and some old people like to eat them with fried peanuts. There are also many people who eat beef and mutton buns for lunch, and many families like to eat steamed buns with stir-fried dishes. Stir-fried dishes are generally simple home-cooked dishes, such as shredded pork with lotus white, shredded pork with celery, shredded potatoes with vinegar, zucchini with vinegar, pickled peppers, Chili sauce and so on. Most people eat noodles for dinner. There are many kinds of noodles, such as shredded pork noodles, long noodles, fried noodles and cage noodles. They also eat jiaozi, steamed bread, baked steamed bread and leek cake.
Hui people scattered in rural areas, mountainous areas and pastoral areas are mostly influenced by their place of residence. For example, the Hui people in the southern mountainous area of Ningxia mainly eat potatoes, buckwheat, naked oats, millet and peas, while the Hui people in Altay, Xinjiang eat horse meat and milk food, and rice flour food takes a secondary position. This is obviously influenced by the Kazakh diet customs. Hui people living in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Tibet, like Tibetans, can't eat highland barley, peas and three meals without Baba. The most distinctive feature of Hui people's diet in northwest rural areas is folk banquet. "Nine bowls and three rows" is an authentic banquet for the Hui people. Generally speaking, this kind of banquet is used to entertain many guests and relatives at weddings and funerals.
Generally speaking, the daily diet of the Hui nationality has the following remarkable characteristics:
First, there is more food in the staple food than rice. Pasta is the traditional staple food of Hui people. Its variety, novelty, fragrance and exquisite craftsmanship are unparalleled, which shows the wisdom of the Hui people. According to statistics, in the diet of the Hui people, more than 60% of the varieties are pasta, while in other varieties, flour is used more or less. Lamian Noodles, Xunzi, Lehe, Dragon Noodles, Mashi, Wonton, Camellia oleifera, Wonton, etc. After being cooked by Hui people, it will become a delicious meal for guests, and even foreigners will eat it as soon as possible and will not miss it.
Second, sweets occupy a certain position. This is related to the fact that Arab Muslims like to eat sweets. After giving birth to a baby, Arab Muslim women put honey juice or dates into the baby's mouth before breastfeeding; After the birth of Hui babies in Ningxia, they are also used to speaking with brown sugar. Many of the famous dishes of the Hui nationality are beets, such as flying like honey, fried sheep tail, sweet and sour tenderloin and so on. There are many sweets in rice noodles, such as cold cakes, cut cakes, sweet cakes with eight treasures, sweet twists, glutinous rice cakes, rice cakes, persimmon cakes and paste trays. Hui people in Ningxia also make traditional halal food oil into sweets, and add honey and brown sugar to the dough.
Third, beef and mutton dishes account for a large proportion in the dishes. Hui people especially like to eat beef and mutton, which is related to Islamic dietary thought. Islam advocates eating meat such as cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks and fish, and prohibits eating meat from pigs, mules and birds of prey. Herry Liu said in the Book of Arabic Rites that "eating makes people nourish their temperament", "Those who eat the grain of poultry and the grass of animals are good in nature and edible", and "only camels, cows and sheep can eat". All the foods advocated by Islam are good foods. The so-called "good food", explained by Mr. Ma Jian, is pure, delicious and nutritious food. More specifically, it should have a good appearance, fresh smell and taste and rich nutritional value. Take sheep as an example. They are docile and clean, and the meat is delicious. At the same time, they also have nourishing and dietetic effects on the body. Mutton contains protein, fat, vitamins and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus and iron. Regular consumption of mutton can stimulate appetite, strengthen the body, dispel cold and help yang, and benefit kidney and deficiency.
Daily drink
The Hui people's favorite traditional drink is tea. Tea is not only the daily drink of Hui people, but also the most precious drink for entertaining guests. Tea is an important part of Hui people's diet.
No matter in the northwest, northeast or southwest, no matter in cities, towns or rural areas, as long as they visit Hui families, enthusiastic hosts will first offer a bowl of hot tea. Hui people attach great importance to tea sets, and many Hui families have complete sets of various tea sets. In the past, pots used to make tea or tea were generally made of silver and copper, with various forms and unique styles, such as copper teapots with long mouths, silver duck pots and copper fire pots. At present, tea is usually made in porcelain pots, bowls or cups with lids. Tea is often made in tin iron pot, and teapots are used in summer.
Gaiwancha is a unique way of drinking tea for Hui people in northwest China. It is said that it began in the Tang Dynasty, and it has spread to this day, and it is deeply loved by the Hui people. The tea cover consists of three parts: tray, tea bowl and tea cover, so it is called "three batteries". Every hot summer, Gaiwancha has become the best thirst-quenching drink for Muslims. In the cold winter, Hui people who are slack in farming get up in the morning, sit around the fire, bake some steamed bread or eat some steamed bread, and never forget to scrape several cups of tea.
Hui people also regard Gaiwancha as a good thing to entertain guests. Whenever Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Fitr, weddings and other festive activities, guests come to your home, and the enthusiastic host will hand you a cup of tea, and offer you prickly heat, dried fruits, etc. for you to drink tea. There are many ceremonies when offering tea, that is, opening the lid of the bowl in front of the guests, putting it into the tea material, washing it with water and holding it with both hands. This shows that this cup of tea is specially prepared for guests to show respect. If there are many guests at home, the host will distribute tea to the host and guest according to age, seniority and identity.
When drinking a covered bowl of tea, you can't take off the lid on the covered bowl, and you can't blow the tea floating on it with your mouth. Instead, you can pick up the tea bowl tray with your left hand, grab the lid with your right hand and "scrape" it a few times. Its function is to remove floating tea and other things, and to promote the melting of rock sugar. Scraping the lid is very particular, one is sweet, the other is fragrant, and the third is that the tea dew becomes clear soup. After shaving every time, tilt the lid of the tea and suck it with your mouth. You can't swallow the little handle one after another, you can't gasp at the tea bowl and suck it. You should drink slowly. When the host offers tea, guests are generally impolite, not to mention not drinking the tea served, which will be considered impolite and disrespectful to the host.