food · 5 May 2026
Xinjiang Laghman: Hand-Pulled Noodles of the Silk Road
Laghman (拉条子) are thick hand-pulled noodles from Xinjiang, served with a lamb and vegetable stir-fry. They share roots with Central Asian cuisines across the old Silk Road. Here is what they are and where to find them.
Laghman (拉条子) are Xinjiang's hand-pulled noodles — thick, round, elastic, and slightly irregular — served with a stir-fry sauce of lamb, tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, and cumin. The same dish appears across Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan) as a legacy of Silk Road exchange.
The noodles are pulled from dough by stretching, doubling, and stretching again until thick and chewy. The sauce is cooked until saucy but not soupy. Dry laghman (干拌) has the sauce tossed with noodles; wet laghman (汤拉条子) adds broth.
Xinjiang restaurants are common across major Chinese cities. Ask specifically for hand-pulled (手拉面) to avoid machine-cut substitutes. In Xinjiang itself, the Old City area of Kashgar around the Id Kah Mosque has numerous authentic Uyghur restaurants serving laghman alongside polo (pilaf), samsa (baked lamb pastry), and kavap (kebabs).
Tags
xinjiang, noodles, uyghur, food, silk-road, lamb