Dapanji (大盘鸡), literally “big plate chicken”, is perhaps the most iconic and recognized dish among all Chinese Islamic (halal) cuisine. While in Beijing, you may be far from the northwestern reaches of Xinjiang, but that doesn’t mean the Chinese capital lacks that region’s delicious cuisine. Let’s take a better look into what makes Dapanji a big hit with everyone who has tasted it.

What Dapanji can be classified into is a type of chicken stew that has explosion-in-your-mouth flavors, not necessarily spicy, but the spices really make this dish gastronomically awesome. There is a lot of color in this dish, with green bell peppers, white onion, yellow potatoes, dark skewed pieces of chicken, and of course the red sauce (red chili peppers) it’s planted in and surrounded by. Sometimes, Dapanji is served on a bed of noodles (latiaozi, Islamic hand stretched noodles or lamian, better known as ramen) or an entire piece of flat nang (naan) bread. Its main ingredients are chicken, onion, garlic, bell pepper, potato, chili pepper, ground cumin, cooking oil, soy sauce, and beer.

The chicken that is served is usually an entire whole chicken cut into bite-size pieces, with bones intact. Dapanji is a large dish, big enough to share among four people. At restaurants for a party of two, there may be an option to order a smaller order, called Banpanji (半盘鸡) meaning half plate of chicken.