Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Ashlyanfu
A cold Kyrgyz noodle bowl of wheat noodles and springy starch jelly in a spicy, vinegary vegetable broth with egg ribbons.
Kyrgyz · medium · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 30 min
~424 cal · 11g protein · 71g carbs · 11g fat · 4g fiber · 6g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Ashlyanfu is a cold, spicy-sour noodle dish of Dungan origin that became a Kyrgyz favourite, most famous in the lakeside town of Karakol where it is served with a small fried potato pie on the side. It layers hand-stretched wheat noodles with a springy jelly set from starch, all bathed in a tangy vegetable broth sharpened with vinegar and chili.
Made ahead and chilled, it is the refreshing summer bowl of the Issyk-Kul region, finished with strips of thin egg omelette, cucumber and a dollop of chili paste. Every stall in Karakol guards its own balance of sour and heat.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
12 oz wheat noodles
1 cup cornstarch
5 cups water
2 egg
1 carrot,
1 red bell pepper, sliced
2 tomato, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cucumber,
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp chili paste or flakes
2 star anise
1 inch ginger, sliced
2 tbsp
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Whisk the cornstarch into 3 cups of the water with a little salt, then cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick and translucent. Pour into an oiled dish and chill until set firm, then cut into cubes.
✎ Chef’s note
Set the starch jelly the day before so it firms up enough to hold its cubes in the broth.
2
Fry the carrot, pepper, tomato, ginger and garlic in the oil, add the remaining water, vinegar, chili, star anise, sugar and salt, and simmer a few minutes. Chill the broth.
3
Beat the eggs and fry into thin omelettes, then roll and slice into fine ribbons.
4
Cook the noodles, rinse under cold water, and drain well so they are cold and springy.
5
Layer the noodles and starch jelly cubes in bowls, ladle over the chilled broth, and top with the egg ribbons, cucumber, cilantro and extra chili. Serve cold.
Karakol street food.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Bishkek. The pantry came off the back of a horse. Mutton and horse meat, milk soured and fermented into kymyz, hard dried curd that keeps for months, and boorsok, small diamonds of dough fried and heaped into a bowl for tea. Vegetables arrived later, with settlement, and are still not the point of a meal.
🗺️
Kyrgyzstan. Beshbarmak means five fingers and is shared with Kazakhstan, so the honest framing is that it belongs to the steppe. Lagman, the hand-pulled noodle dish eaten everywhere here, is Uyghur and Dungan in origin rather than a Kyrgyz invention, and Karakol on the eastern lake shore is the town most associated with the Dungan version.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Kyrgyzstan
LagmanHand-pulled noodles topped with a stir-fried stew of beef, peppers, and tomatoes in a savory sauce.
KattamaA flaky, spiral pan-fried bread layered with onion, torn and eaten with tea or broth.
OromoA rolled, spiraled steamed dumpling of thin dough layered with meat, potato, and pumpkin, a hearty Kyrgyz favorite.
Browse all Kyrgyzstan recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Whisk.
Storing it: Best fresh. Leftovers keep 2 days refrigerated; loosen with a splash of water or oil as you reheat so they do not clump.
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Ashlyanfu?
A cold Kyrgyz noodle bowl of wheat noodles and springy starch jelly in a spicy, vinegary vegetable broth with egg ribbons.
Where does Ashlyanfu come from?
Ashlyanfu is a Kyrgyz dish from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Can Ashlyanfu be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Ashlyanfu recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Ashlyanfu safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Ashlyanfu take to make?
About 60 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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