Visitors coming to Xian must do two things: check out the Terracotta warriors and horses… and eat some Yang Rou Pao Mo. But before eating, you will have some work to do. You will first be served one or two pieces of flat bread which you will break into tiny chunks, the smaller the better. The waiter or the waitress will then hand your bowl to the cook who will add the delicious lamb soup to the bread tiny chunks, without forgetting some pieces of lamb meat. When the steaming hot bread soup is handed back to you, the waiter will also offer you some sweet crisp pickled garlic, cilantro, and chili sauce. There you go, now you can enjoy. Pao Mo (it can also be made with beef soup, in which case it is called牛肉泡馍 [Niúròu pào mó]) is a specialty of Shaanxi cuisine and a typical dish of Xi'an.
One legend about its origin says that a young man, Zhao Kuangyin (赵匡胤), who later became an emperor of the Song Dynasty, was returning home after spending some time with his fiancée. He had spent all his food and money on the journey, and he only had two pieces of inedible hard bread left. His companions entered a shop selling some lamb soup; they broke the bread in pieces and added it to the soup.
When he became emperor, he returned to the small shop and asked the cook to make the same soup again. After the meal, the emperor could not hide his joy and gave it the name羊肉 泡 馍. The rest is history… and mostly some good food that you can enjoy while visiting us in Xi’an.
Here are some pics from our first experience eating this dish when our friend Yuri and her husband came to visit us.
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