Xi'an - Biang Biang Noodle

图片发自App

Noodles are very popular in Shaanxi Province, where Xi'an is located. Biang Biang Noodle, also known as 油泼扯面, is among the most popular noodles. What's fun is that, reference from Wikipedia, Biang Biang Noodles are touted as one of the "ten strange wonders of Shaanxi" (陕西十大怪), are described as being like a belt, owing to their thickness and length.

Biang Biang Noodles are handmade and very wide and thick. It takes from effort to chew each "noodle belt", and that makes it so satisfying.

The Chinese character Biang cannot be found in common Chinese dictionaries and I guess it might be made up just to be fun. The simplfied Chinese version is made up of 43 strokes, while the traditional Chinese version 58 strokes.

Below are direct quote from Wikipedia, to give you some interesting knowledge about this character:

"The character is composed of 言 (speak; 7 strokes) in the middle flanked by 幺 (tiny; 2×3 strokes) on both sides. Below it, 馬 (horse; 10 strokes) is similarly flanked by 長 (grow; 2×8 strokes). This central block itself is surrounded by 月 (moon; 4 strokes) to the left, 心 (heart; 4 strokes) below, and刂 (knife; 2 strokes) to the right. These in turn are surrounded by a second layer of characters, namely 穴 (cave; 5 strokes) on the top and 辶 (walk; 4 strokes) curving around the left and bottom."