P
Uyghur
Laghman (拉条子 La Tiao Zi) — Uyghur Hand-Pulled Noodles with Lamb Stew
Laghman (拉条子, la tiao zi, literally pulled strips) is the hand-pulled noodle dish of the Uyghur people of Xinjiang — long, thick, hand-stretched noodles served with a meat sauce of braised lamb, bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and Xinjiang spices (cumin, coriander, black pepper). The noodles are made using a specific pulling technique: a thick rope of dough is stretched between the hands, then swung and pulled repeatedly, doubling in length with each pass, until the desired thickness is achieved. The dish is a direct relative of the Central Asian laghman found in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Afghanistan — reflecting the shared culinary heritage of the Silk Road.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the noodle dough
300 g
170 ml
water
lukewarm
Your own market
1 tsp
salt
Your own market
1 tbsp
For the lamb sauce
500 g
lamb shoulder
diced
Your own market
1 large
onion
diced
Your own market
2 medium
bell peppers
diced
Your own market
2 medium
4 cloves
garlic
minced, plus extra sliced raw for garnish
Your own market
2 tsp
ground cumin
Your own market
1 tsp
ground coriander
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
black pepper
freshly ground
Origin · Kampot pepper, Cambodia — protected geographical indicationGranville Island Spice Co. · Vancouver →
1 tsp
dried chilli
flakes or powder
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
salt
or to taste
Your own market
250 ml
water or lamb stock
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
To garnish
1 small bunch
3 cloves
garlic
thinly sliced raw
Your own market
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Combine the bread flour, salt, and lukewarm water in a bowl. Add the neutral oil. Knead vigorously for 15 minutes until the dough is very smooth and shows strong elasticity when pulled. Cover and rest for 1 hour. The dough is ready when it no longer springs back immediately under a finger and the surface is silken.
2
Divide the rested dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece between the palms into a rope approximately 30 cm long. Coat each rope thoroughly in neutral oil, arrange on a tray without touching, cover, and rest for a further 30 minutes. The ropes are ready when they yield to gentle pressure without resistance.
3
Bring a large pot of salted water to a full boil. Meanwhile, begin pulling: take one rope and hold an end in each hand, letting the rope hang. Stretch outward gently, swinging the rope to encourage even extension. Fold in half and stretch again. Repeat 6 to 8 times until the noodles reach 2–3 mm in thickness. This is where the dish lives or dies — the dough must have been properly developed and oiled, or it will snap rather than yield; each fold must double the length evenly, producing strands of consistent thickness throughout.
4
Lower the pulled noodles immediately into the boiling water. Cook until the noodles rise to the surface and are tender but retain a slight resistance at the centre, approximately 2–3 minutes. Drain and divide among four bowls.
5
While the dough rests, prepare the sauce. Fry the diced lamb shoulder in a wide pan over high heat until well browned on all surfaces. The pan should smell of caramelised meat, not steaming liquid.
6
Add the onion and cook until softened. Add the bell peppers, tomato, and garlic. Season with cumin, coriander, black pepper, chilli, and salt. Stir to coat. Add the water or stock and simmer uncovered for 20–30 minutes. The sauce is ready when the lamb is tender, the liquid has reduced to a glossy, clingin consistency, and the Xinjiang spices are fully integrated — cumin and coriander dominant, the raw edge of the spices gone.
7
Ladle the lamb sauce over the drained noodles. Scatter fresh coriander and raw garlic slices over the surface. Serve immediately.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Lamb from a small flock raised on open pasture, slaughtered to order; stone-milled high-extraction bread flour; whole cumin and coriander seeds freshly ground to order; hand-pressed neutral oil.
02
Estate — Good-quality diced lamb shoulder from a known butcher; a reliable high-protein bread flour (12–13% protein); freshly ground cumin and coriander from whole spices bought within the year.
03
Market — Supermarket lamb shoulder, trimmed of excess fat; strong bread flour from the baking aisle; pre-ground cumin and coriander of reasonable freshness; vegetable or sunflower oil.
04
House — Any available lamb cut, cut small; standard plain flour supplemented with a little vital wheat gluten if available; pantry-jar spices; any neutral cooking oil.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. After 15 minutes of kneading, the dough stretches a few centimetres without tearing and the surface is completely smooth.
◇Touch. After the second rest, an oiled rope stretches several centimetres under light hand pressure without snapping back sharply.
◇Sight. Each pulling fold produces strands of even diameter throughout their length, free of thin points or tears.
◇Sight. Boiled noodles float to the surface and are uniformly pale with no raw, dense core visible when one is torn open.
◇Smell. The finished sauce smells of integrated cumin and coriander with no raw-spice sharpness remaining.
◇Where it lives or dies. The pulling sequence — 6 to 8 folds on an oiled, fully rested rope of properly developed high-gluten dough — cannot be rushed or skipped; dough that is under-kneaded, under-rested, or insufficiently oiled will snap, and no correction is possible once the rope breaks.
Pillar V
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The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
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VI
What to Pour
A light, dry red with earthy spice character — the cumin-and-coriander weight of the sauce calls for a wine with comparable aromatic directness and low tannin; alternatively, a cold lager in the Central Asian tradition, or salted tea in the Uyghur manner.
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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Sourced through Provenance