Living in Mongolia I cant say that I have found any traditional foods I really like. A lot of the foods are based on what the nomads used to eat due to the weather at the time of the year.
There isn't any well known Western fast food outlets here but there seems to be many different types of restaurants that cater to people’s tastes. There seems to be places opening all the time and depending on how popular they are will depend if the restaurant stays open.
I found this information from one of the books I was reading and thought I would add to the blog.
“The Mongolian’s dietary requirements are almost entirely met by their flocks. The only food bought in is flour and rice. Vegetables are rarely eaten. The Mongols obtain all of the necessary nutrients by eating every part of the animal, nothing is wasted. Wild onions and garlic are sometimes used to season meat dishes.
During the summer months dairy products or white foods are eaten, comprising of cheese, butter, curds and the so called yellow fat, or orum, produced by boiling off the water from milk. Excess curds are pressed into cakes and dried on the roof of the ger. This dried form is called aaruul which will keep fresh almost indefinitely. Select cuts of raw meat, prepared during the summer are hung in the ger to produce boorts, dried meats for winter use.
During the winter months the animals do not produce milk, so the diet consists of fresh meat and dried aaruul and boorts. The whole animal is eaten, only the skin and bone are left. Sheep are killed by making a small incision below the ribs and squeezing an artery, no blood is spilled or wasted. The blood is used to make sausages, similar to black pudding.
During summer the main drink is airag, fermented mare’s milk. Inside every nomad ger, to the left of the door is a wooden frame supporting a sewn-up cow skin or khoohoor, with the neck open and the shaft of a wooden paddle, or booloor sticking out. This is where the airage is fermented. Throughout the summer, milk is added and airag taken out in a continuous process. The fermenting airag must be stirred hundreds of times a day using the booloor. The drink is mildly alcoholic and has a very pleasant taste by most Mongols standards. On a smaller scale, airag can be made in a wooden bucket, (metal or plastic are never used). A similar fermented milk drink is made from camel’s milk and is treated with less respect and can be produced in a plastic barrel.
Nomads produce their own vodka or aarkhi by distilling airag. The distillation process is remarkably simple and takes about 30 minutes. The apparatus used is called a burkheer, consisting of a large pan of airag with a wide metal cylinder sitting just inside its rim. A round-bottomed pan of cold water sits on top of the cylinder and small pan hangs inside. The whole apparatus sits on the stove. The alcohol evaporates and condenses on the base of the top pan, it then runs down and drips into the small pan where it is collected. Ten litres of airag will produce about two or three litres of aakhi of about 10% alcohol by volume. Further distillations will increase it's strength.
Tea is drunk throughout the year. Chinese brick tea is used. Small pieces are broken off as required, milk and salt are added to taste”.
When the Mongolian families eat it is usually a social affair as everyone helps themselves to the pot with the meat in. Life in the city sure must be different to the one in the country side.
In my research I have come across the following recipes;
Buuz
Small filled pockets, steamed
The ingredients for dough and filling of the Buuz are exactly the same as with khuushuur and bansh, the differences are in the size, shape, and cooking method. Buuz are cooked under steam, and usually have an opening at the top.
A variety of Buuz made with yeast dough are called Mantuun Buuz.
250 g Flour, 1.5 dl Water
Filling
300 g Minced meat
Traditionally, mutton is used, other types of meat such as beef work just as well. Mongolians consider fat meat to be of higher quality, but there's no problem in using western style lean meat. Borts can also be used.
1 p Onion Minced, 2 p Garlic cloves Minced, 3-5 Ts Water, Salt Pepper Caraway to taste
Prepare the Filling
Mix minced meat, onion and garlic. Add water until the mass is smooth to work with. Add enough salt and spices (the dough has no salt).
Prepare the dough
Mix flour and water to create a pliable dough. Let it rest for 15 min.
Cut the dough into 2 cm (0.8 in) thick slices, roll the slices.
Cut the rolls into pieces of 3 cm (1.2 in), flatten the pieces with a finger.
Form the pockets
The decorative design of the buuz is a matter of honor for the cook. At first, the result will probably look a bit clumsy. Mongolian experts produce small miracles in no time almost without looking. There are several different possibilities to form the buuz, but the beginning is always the same. The pieces of dough are rolled into circles of about 7 cm (2.8 in) diameter, making the center slightly thicker than the edge. It is best only to roll as many circles you can process further within a few minutes. Forming the pockets will be more difficult when the dough is already starting to get dry.
Hold one circle the open hand and place about one tea spoon of the meat mass in the center.
Round Buuz
This is the most traditional shape, and differs the most from the other forms of Mongolian filled pockets.
Fold the edge at one side, and press it together with your fingers. Create another fold next to the previous one, slightly offset to the outside, and press it together as well.
Continue this way, continuously rotating the buuz as you go along. When done right, then this will result in a ring, which keeps the pocket together at the top. A small opening remains open in the center.
Folded BuuzThis method doesn't require as much dexterity, but also yields an esthetically pleasing result.
Fold the circle from both sides, and press the opposing edges together in the middle over the meat.
Fold the edges from across as well, and press them together into the previous connection.
The result is a flower like pouch, with four openings around the top.
With a little practise, you can also try to make six "petals".
Semicircular Buuz
This shape is normally reserved for Khuushuur or Bansh, but as shown here, it is extremely quick to produce.
Fold the circle into half, to crate a crescent shape with the edges lying on top of each other.
Press the edges together along the semi circle to close the Buuz.
Place the Buuz on its "back", and compress the round edge by lifting the ends. This will result in various shapes, with a meandering edge.
Cooking the Buuz
The finished Buuz are cooked under steam without pressure. The easiest way to do this is a special pan with perforated inlays. Such inlays are also available for normal pans. Flat and wide inlays are used for the wok type pan used on the stove in the yurt.
Oil the inlays, or dip the bottom of each Buuz in oil.
Place the Buuz on the inlay, ideally without touching each other.
Fill sufficient water into the bottom of the pan.
Insert inlays, close the lid, and don't open it anymore until the Buuz are finished.
Keep the steam going for about 15 min.
Now open the lid, and fan some air to the Buuz, eg. with a cutting board. This will give them a glossy look, and a tasty looking slightly reddish color.
Serving suggestions
The tradition Mongolian cuisine knows very little vegetable, so that the Buuz are considered a complete meal (possibly with Ketchup or other condiment). Served this way the quantities given are good for 2 people.
When served with vegetables or other side dishes, the quantities should easily feed 4 people.
Of course, modern technology won't stop even in front of traditional dishes like Buuz. All of Buuz, Bansh, and Khuushuur are sold in Mongolian supermarkets frozen and packaged and ready to cook. But the results of our comparative experiments were unambiguous: Handmade tastes better almost by principle!
Guriltai Shul
A hearty soup with meat and fried noodles.
As with any soup, the ingredients and their relative amounts can be varied at will. In the Mongolian cuisine the only constants are the presence of meat and noodles.
Ingredients
150 g Vegetables Cut into small pieces, 1 p Onion Cut in stripes, 200 g Meat or borts. Cut meat in small pieces stripes. Soak borts at least 10 min in water (the longer the better).
300 g Tasalsan Guril, Fried noodles, Water, Salt Pepper Other spices at will.
Preparation
Saute the onion stripes in the pot with a little oil.
Add the vegetables (slow cooking types first) and keep frying.
Add the meat and fry it as well.
Add salt, pepper, and other spices at will, and keep frying. The joint frying decides about the aroma of the soup.
Add sufficient water, so that it will reach for the noodles as well, and heat up until it boils.
Add the fried noodles, and boil everything for about 5 minutes.
Season to taste.
The finished soup can be refined with curds, cream, or tomato puree (although the latter isn't common in the Mongolian cuisine).
Suutei Tsai
Tea with milk and salt.
Put the tea into a pan of water and let it boil a short moment. Now add about the same amount of milk to the water, and boil the mix again. Instead of stirring, the Mongolians will lift out some liquid with a ladle and let it splash back from a certain height. This brings enough movement into the liquid in the flat pan on the yurt stove. In the end, season to taste with salt and strain into a teapot.
This tea is served in little bowls. It is the standard beverage to every meal. Of course, you can also buy milk tea as instant powder nowadays. That doesn't offer quite the same enjoyment as a beverage made with fresh milk on the yurt stove, but can be quite practical when travelling.
