Zasui soup is made from mixed ox and sheep leads and entrails, Zasui “potluck” soup makes a fine breakfast.

If you visit a Tibetan's home 100 km from west of Xining, you will have a chance to taste the buttered Zanba.

Zanba is the Tibetan word for “flour sautéed in butter”. It is made from milk tea, sautéed barley flour, golden butter, milky white “qula” and sugar.

Yogurt is a snack you can find on every street corner. With its sweet and sour taste, yogurt makes a nutritious summer drink. Usually yogurt you see in Xining is filled in small bowls, which are stacked with a piece of glass on each storey. You can require some sugar on yogurt to your own taste. It costs only RMB 1.2 yuan for a little bowl, why not having a taste of it?

Sanzi is a kind of deep-fried food. Usually it is made in the late twelfth lunar month in Han people's families.

It's offered to the guests as a kind of sock before a meal during the lunar New Year. For local Muslim like Hui and Sala, Sanzi is a main food to treat guests on Erde Festival.

The making process is to knead wheat flour with a bit of salt and other seasoning into a dough, then twist and pull the flexible dough into long and ring-shaped noodles and last put the noodles into boiling vegetable oil till they turn yellow. It tastes crisp and oil-flavored.

In the past, Sanzi can be only seen in winter since it was a home-cooked food. Now you can buy it in any season if you are in Xining.

Niangpi is a popular snack made of flour and baking soda. Rinsed in clear water until it becomes glutinous, the dough is cooked in a food steamer.

Niangpi has two kinds, thin and thick. The thin Niangpi is yellow in color while the thick is light brown.

It can be served as a main dish, side dish, or appetizer to go with wine and liquor. Niangpi can be found anywhere in Xining at a two-yuan price, but the Niangpi made by a person named Ma Zhong is the best known.