To Ashlan-Fu Alley
it's where you go for cooling noodles in Kyrgyzstan, plus a recipe for this classic Dungan dish
Recently, in preparation for a short BBC radio piece I’m doing next month, I went trawling through my iPhone for old videos I’d recorded of overseas train rides. This meant scrolling past dozens of moving images I’d long forgotten about. Scattered among the assortment were clips taken in 2019 when I spent six months in countries such as Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan researching my book Red Sands: Reportage and Recipes Through Central Asia.
One short film showed a drove of fat-bottomed sheep being steered by a shepherd on horseback along a dusty road in Tajikistan followed by another I’d shot through the window of a Kazakh taxi where in the distance, rising from the steppe, was the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
At the same time as this digging about, a friend, who was in Kyrgyzstan, posted on Instagram about the little-known noodle dish sometimes found in Central Asia, ashlan-fu. Having tried it, she declared that she loved it. Oh! I thought, I have a video of that somewhere. And returning to my disordered archive of fuzzy and choppy clips, I found it. And I watched it again and again, finding the motions of the cook’s hands spooning the vinegar mix and chopped omelette and vegetables weirdly hypnotic.
The video is below, but for now some background…
The video I’d taken had been recorded in Karakol, a small city in Kyrgyzstan that lies between the eastern reaches of Issyk-Kul - a huge alpine lake - and a wall of the Tian Shan mountain range.
In the late 19th century, around the time Karakol was a far outpost of the Russian Empire, the settlement’s population quickly grew as Muslim Dungans began arriving from nearby China. Having tried to establish an independent homeland, which failed, they fled across the border to escape persecution crossing the Tian Shan and settling in Kyrgyzstan, where many became esteemed farmers.
A handful of Dungan majority villages still exist in modern-day Kyrgyzstan. One is Milyanfan, just outside the capital Bishkek, but many also reside in the city of Karakol.
Karakol was mainly a military garrison under the Russian empire and was previously named Przhevalsk after the Russian explorer Nikolai Przhevalsky, who, born in Smolensk, died in Karakol in 1888. Lined with poplar and apple trees, today it is popular with trekkers who head off into the surrounding valleys.
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For me, the highlight in Karakol is the beautiful Dungan mosque which was built in 1910 without the use of a single nail. It is topped with a wooden pagoda, rather than a dome, which is brightly painted in a harlequin style and there is a fascinating fusion of designs incorporating Buddhist, folk and Islamic imagery.
If that explains a little of Karakol, you will likely still be wondering what ashlan-fu is and why it has an alleyway dedicated to it.
Ashlan-fu is popular with the Uyghur population who reside in Kyrgyzstan and, even more so, with the Dungan community. Cooks tend to prepare two types of homemade noodles for it: thin wheat noodles and thicker white starchy noodles. These are then topped with shreds of omelette, vegetables and chives before a spicy vinaigrette is poured over it all. Usually it is served cold.
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Ashlan-fu alley is a thin covered walkway in the centre of Karakol where the smell of vinegary broth and fried bread drifts over competing cafés all selling their own versions of this special noodle dish. Nudging against one another, each is simple and small usually with just four or five tables and usually the ashlan-fu is assembled and plated up at a counter.
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At one of the cafés, I placed my order and watched as a server put thin wheat noodles into the bowl, then thick white starchy noodles on top of those, before adding a scattering of stir-fried vegetables and pouring over the spicy tangy broth. I took my seat and greedily scooped up the ashlan-fu with some puffy fried bread sold alongside it. It was just as delicious as it sounds.
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I love ashlan-fu for many reasons. If it’s summer and you’re sweating and the temperature keeps on climbing: ashlan-fu. If you’re in Kyrgyzstan as a vegetarian and you are hankering after a bowl of noodles without meat: ashlan-fu. If you’re simply craving sour, spicy hot flavours: ashlan-fu.
And here is the video:
In my book Red Sands I wanted to include a ‘version of’ ashlan-fu recipe for readers to make at home if they felt inspired. I’m adding it here to this week’s newsletter as it is ideal for summer and given you’re not likely to make the noodles by hand, it’s not too taxing either.
Recipe for Alternative Ashlan-Fu
This is an inauthentic version to try at home, prepared with ready-made noodles, though it does share the same vinegary avours to proper ashlan-fu. Though typically eaten cold, there is, of course, nothing stopping you from eating it lukewarm, as I tend to do.
Serves 2 generously
100g/3 ½ oz egg noodles
100g/3 ½ oz rice or glass noodles
4 tbsp Chinkiang black rice vinegar
450ml/2 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp granulated sugar
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 red or green (bell) pepper, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 tomato, diced
1 fresh red or green chilli, deseeded and diced
Pinch of sea salt
½ tsp ground Sichuan pepper
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Knob of butter
1 large egg, beaten
Handful of chives, chopped
Have all your ingredients prepped before you start as this dish cooks quite quickly. First of all, cook both the noodles according to their packet instructions, then drain and immediately cool with water to stop them cooking further. Set them aside. Make the broth by combining the vinegar, 150ml of the vegetable stock, sugar and soy sauce, and whisk until the sugar dissolves.
In a wok or large frying pan, heat the oil over a medium heat and fry all of the vegetables, except for the garlic and the chives, adding a generous pinch of salt along with the Sichuan pepper, then cook the vegetables until tender, about 20 minutes. When they’re done, add the garlic, fry for a minute, then pour in the remaining stock and simmer over a low heat as you make the omelette.
Add a knob of butter to a frying pan and place over a medium heat. Mix the beaten egg with half the chives and pour into the pan to make a thin omelette. Remove from the heat and chop it into postage stamp-size pieces.
Take two large bowls and put the egg noodles to one side and the rice or glass noodles to the other. Pour over the vegetable mixture, then the vinegar mix and scatter over the chopped omelette and the remaining chives.
Serve when cool.
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Thank you for reading and I’ll be back with you next Wednesday for another Journeys Beyond Borders newsletter.