🍽️ Big Plate Chicken

Chicken, potatoes and wide noodles, spicy and hearty.

Big plate chicken is a hearty, bold dish of Urumqi and northern Xinjiang. A whole free-range chicken is chopped, stir-fried with potato and green-red pepper, braised with beer and spices, and finished with a layer of hand-pulled wide noodles. The chicken is firm and spicy, the potato soft and mealy, the wide noodles soaked in glossy red gravy. Named for its oversized plate, it feeds several, spicy without harshness, richly sauced. The Xinjiang ritual is two ways: eat chicken and potato first, then toss the noodles in the sauce. A substantial centerpiece for group meals and road trips, best with local beer.