Paomo is a popular specialty of Shaanxi cuisine common throughout Xi'an and other cities of Guanzhong. It is a hot stew of minced steamed leavened flatbread, known regionally as mo (first=t), cooked and served with lamb or beef.
Lamb paomo (first=t)
Production
The used in is a type of
shaobing, baked from unleavened flour. Lamb or beef is boiled with bones,
Sichuan pepper,
Illicium verum,
Lanxangia tsaoko,
cinnamon, and other spices until the meat is tender and the broth is done. In traditional restaurants, customers must break up the bread themselves first into thumb-sized chunks before handing it back to the chef. The restaurant then boils the broth, thins it with hot water, and adds in the prepared meat along with cellophane noodles. After the soup is heated up, the broken-up bread is added in before being topped off with spices and a drizzle of lamb oil. Customers may then add chili oil, cilantro, or garlic to their liking. The garlic is sometimes pickled in a sour-sweet vinegar and sugar concoction.
==Gallery==
Legends
One folktale about its origin is that in the late Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Zhao Kuangyin,
the
Song dynasty's first emperor, returned to his hometown after seeing his betrothed. He had finished up most of his supply on the way back. He had only two pieces of dried plain pancake. He went through a merchant selling lamb soup; Zhao tore the bread into little pieces and mixed it into the soup.
After Zhao Kuangyin became the emperor, he returned to the small merchant place and asked the chief to make the soup again. After eating this old flavor, the freshness and the old memory interwind his heart. He named it "lamb paomo".
See also
-
List of lamb dishes
-
List of stews
-
List of soups
