At the table
Separate a few strips, dip them or add a little broth to your bowl, and cut long pieces before eating. Ask what is in both dough and dip.
Contains oats; flour blends and cross-contact vary. Meat or animal fat may be added to the dough or broth. The sticky strips need chewing.
Some cooks add scallion, salt, minced meat or sheep-tail fat to the strips. Dips range from meat broth to vegetable-based sauces.
GET TO KNOW THE DISH
What goes into it?
Explore some key ingredients below. Preparations may use additional seasonings and ingredients.
Some cooks add scallion, salt, minced meat or sheep-tail fat to the strips. Dips range from meat broth to vegetable-based sauces.
Typical ingredients
In some versions
Recipes vary by restaurant.
How does it taste?
Mild potato and earthy oat flavor; the dipping broth provides most seasoning.
- Chili heat
- Texture
- Moist, sticky and chewy, with a slightly coarse oat texture.
- How it’s made
- Grate potatoes into a wet paste, mix with naked-oat flour and potato starch, drop strips onto a damp steamer cloth and steam until cooked.
Some cooks add scallion, salt, minced meat or sheep-tail fat to the strips. Dips range from meat broth to vegetable-based sauces.
A CONNECTION TO PLACE
Origin & regional roots
Associated with Inner Mongolia.
About this regional connection
Inner Mongolia: Ulanqab household oat-and-potato traditions; related preparations also occur elsewhere in northern China.
Ask if they have it first
请问你们有乌兰察布磨擦擦吗？
Do you have this item?
A LITTLE SOMETHING TO READ
Story & history
Potatoes meet naked oats
This account describes a tradition or story, rather than an established historical fact.
Mocaca brings together potatoes and naked oats from northern farming households. Grating the potato into paste, rather than shreds, gives these steamed strips their characteristic texture; related dishes extend beyond Ulanqab.