Miteer Kawa Fu

Miteer Kawa Fu

　　Miteer Kawa Fu. In Uyghur, it means a one-meter-long lamb skewer. These giant lamb skewers are sold all across the Tianshan Mountains, but the most authentic ones come from Kuqa County in southern Xinjiang. Typically, these skewers are one to two times longer than regular ones, and the meat chunks are much larger — one skewer alone is enough to satisfy your craving. The grill used to cook these massive lamb skewers is also wider and longer than a standard grill. For fuel, you can use either smokeless coal or sosuo firewood, both of which work just as well.

Ingredients: lamb from that year’s lamb, eggs, starch, onions; cumin, chili powder, and refined salt.

Method: Debone the lamb and cut it into small pieces, mixing lean and fatty bits, set aside.

Beat the eggs, remove the yolks and keep only the egg whites. Place them in a bowl and stir continuously with chopsticks until foamy. Then add the starch and chopped onions and mix into a paste. Dip the lamb pieces into the paste and evenly coat them before threading onto skewers. When placing them on the grill, sprinkle cumin, chili powder, and refined salt on top. Wait until the smokeless coal or sosuo firewood turns red and stops smoking before cooking. It takes about ten minutes to cook.

Aside from grilling on a grill, in some areas of southern Xinjiang, locals also cook this type of skewered meat in a “tunu’er” (a type of tandoor pit). However, this kind of pit is different from those used for baking naan bread, and some are even portable.

Characteristics: golden, shiny, and crispy; the meat is tender, fresh, and flavorful.