A stall keeper poses with his food stand in the night market in Hotan, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Wang Zhuangfei, a photographer who accompanied me to Hotan, says of a lamb's egg he ate: "It is very meaty but softer than lamb's meat and it tastes great." He regret having only had one, he says.

After having a real egg as a starter and the lamb's egg as a main course, it is time for a summer dessert.

"Come, my friend, and try the perfect summer dessert," Rozgul Abulat, 20, says with a broad smile. He stands beside a big chunk of ice half her size. I notice something familiar in front of the ice, zongzi, or rice-dumplings wrapped in reed leaves, which people normally have during the Dragon Boat Festival celebrated by Han Chinese. People in Hotan love them, eating them almost daily, Rozgul says.

"We also love moon cakes and have them every day as snacks."

Wasting no time she begins to prepare her signature dish. She uses a small pickaxe to scrape ice chips off the big ice chunk cut from the frozen river in winter. Then she puts the ice chips into a bowl and mixes them with yogurt and sugar syrup. Finally, she unwraps a plain zongzi and dumps it into the bowl. It is ready to serve, and proves to live up to Rozgul's sales pitch.