MONGOLIAN CUISINE

MONGOLIAN CUISINE

Mongolian cuisine predominantly consists of dairy products, meat, and animal fats. The most common rural dish is cooked mutton. In the city, steamed dumplings filled with meat "buuz" are popular. Buuz, those are steamed dumplings filled with meat. Other types of dumplings are boiled in water is called “bansh” and deep fried in fat is “khuushuur”. Other dishes combine the meat with rice or fresh noodles made into various stews (tsuivan, budaatai huurga) or noodle soups (guriltai shol). The extreme continental climate of Mongolia has influenced the traditional diet. Use of vegetables and spices are limited. Mongolian cuisine is also influenced by Chinese and Russian cuisine. The nomads of Mongolia sustain their lives directly from the products of domesticated animals such as cattle, horses, camels, yaks, sheep, and goats. Meat is either cooked, used as an ingredient for soups and dumplings (buuz, khuushuur, bansh, mantuu), or dried meat for winter “borts”. The Mongolian diet includes a large proportion of animal fat which is necessary for the Mongols to withstand the cold winters and their hard work. Milk and cream are used to make a variety of beverages, as well as cheese and similar products. Usually they eat homemade dairy products (tsagaan idee) like cheese, curd (aaruul), creams and drink fermented mare’s milk called kumis (airag). Also they have deep-fried pastry (boov) for breakfast with milk tea. Milk is boiled to separate the cream is called “orom’- clotted cream. The remaining skimmed milk is processed into cheese (byaslag), dried curds (aaruul), yogurt, kefir, and a light milk liquor (shimiin arkhi). The most prominent national beverage is airag, which is fermented mare's milk. A popular cereal is barley, which is fried and malted. The resulting flour (arvain guril) is eaten as a porridge in milk fat and sugar or drunk mixed in milky tea. The everyday beverage is salted milk tea (suutei tsai), which may turn into a robust soup by adding rice, meat, or bansh. The most surprising cooking method is only used on special occasions. In this case, the meat (often together with vegetables) gets cooked with the help of stones, which have been preheated in a fire. This either happens with chunks of mutton in a sealed can (khorkhog), or within the abdominal cavity of a deboned goat or marmot. Also, some wild animals meat and fish used in food and medics. In the Mongolian cuisine also have use fruits of all kinds, nuts, rice, seeds, mushroom, onion, spices, sweets and some more 100 other kinds of plants. Cooking and serving boiled lamb without spices is not a deeply rooted Mongolian tradition, and any representatives of the nation. Boodog: One can well say that the Mongols prefer fatty boiled mutton to all other meat. Practically the entire sheep carcass is good for eating. In the village sheep are slaughtered by the traditional method, making a transverse cut in the chest and severing the heart artery. The blood is not shed. The carcass is divided into several large parts-neck, brisket, ribs, blades, loin, rump and legs. Boned meat is used for making dumplings –boiled banshi and steamed buuz. In the countryside food is cooked once a day. In the morning and afternoon people drink milk tea with boortsog-butter biscuits fried in oil, and eat meat boiled the night before. Food is cooked only for supper. Most of the time it is boiled meat and broth to which noodles, rice or other greats are added to taste. Boodog is perhaps the most traditional Mongolian dish. It is prepared from goat or tarbagan meat. Removing the bones and bowels from the skinned carcass through the neck they put red-hot stones inside and close the neck opening,. Then the carcass is barbecued. The meat roasted this way is tender, tasty and fragrant. The bowels of slaughtered sheep and goats are used for making sausage. The process appears simple at first sight: the thoroughly rinsed intestines are stuffed with finely chopped bowels, fat and blood, and spices, salt, onions or garlic are added. But only a good housewife knows what components to use and in what proportions. Today Mongols only use blood for preparing sausage. In olden days, according to Marco Polo, Chinggis Khaan’s soldiers did not make fires for fear of betraying their presence to the enemy. To dull the hunger, they drank the blood of their horses. They opened a secondary vein which would not result in the animal’s death.

Borts: The Mongols’ nomadic way of life and the country’s climatic conditions have given rise to specific methods of preserving meat. The most widespread one is air-drying, or bortslokh. Beef is cut into long stripes which are hung in the shade. The meat dries very quickly, becoming so hard that you cannot cut it with a knife. Before use dried meat(borts) is powdered and then put into boiling water. In a minute you have a nourishing broth. The Mongols say that the carcass of cow processed into borts can be held in its stomach. Incidentally, keeping products in a cleaned bovine stomach is a sure way of preserving them when they are on the move. In olden days the Mongols did not experience food shortages during campaigns. They only had to have borts with them.

Dairy products. It would be hard to list all the dishes prepared from the milk of the five different domestic animals. There are all kinds of sour milk, curds and cheese which are eaten separately or in dishes made with them which have their specific names. The same dishes prepared from the milk of different animals differ from each other. Preference is usually given to cow’s milk. Foreigners who have visited Mongolia notice that Mongols always boil milk and never use it all by itself. They either dilute it with hot water to obtain the so-called khyaram or add tea to it. Salt and milk are indispensable components of Mongolian tea. Mongols use a special variety of tea pressed into large cubes. This variety only grows in Central Asia and China. Mongolian women make urum, or so-called white butter, from milk. The process is simple enough. Boiling milk is stirred with a dipper until a thick layer of skin is formed. The skin is poured off , cooled and dried. If placed in a wooden barrel or leather bag, it keeps well all winter. Urum is served to the guest first as a light snack which can be eaten by itself or with cheese or dried curds, it can be put into tea. By melting urum so-called yellow butter or shar tos, is obtained. This can also be preserved all winter and used for frying Mongolian cake (gambir). Specialists believe that aaruul is one of the factors responsible for the Mongols’ strong and healthy teeth. Aaruul is curdled milk, dehydrated and thoroughly dried in the air and sun. The remarkable thing is that there is practically no limit to its shelf life. For many people aaruul is literally a hard nut to crack. Hard dried curds are impossible to chew and have to be sucked. On a weekday milk tea and aaruul make up the stock-breeder’s breakfast. Aaruul to which sugar has been added is the best treat for Mongolian children.

Mare’s Milk. Menda Beilu, a Chinese 13th century source, contains the following passage about the Mongols: “To quell their hunger and quench their thirst they drink only mare’s milk. “ What is meant is certainly koumiss. The method of preparing this beverage so popular among nomadic people of Asia has remained the same since the time of Menda Beilu: the milk is collected in a leather bag and churned. Back in antiquity Hippocrates said that mare’s milk cured tuberculosis. Koumiss contains A, C and some B vitamins and arrests the growth and proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms. It is effective against lung and stomach diseases, braces up the nervous system, improves the appetite and digestion. Aged koumiss sparkles slightly and is pleasantly acid to the taste. Underdone koumiss may upset the stomach while overdone koumiss is very sour and intoxicating. Although the method of producing koumiss is the same, it tastes different in different parts of the country. This is explained, above all, by the difference in the fodder given to the animals and the specific additives varying from region to region. The best koumiss is produced in Arkhangai and Bulgan aimags. Experts also appreciate the Gobi koumiss which has absorbed the taste and fragrance of the Gobi grasses. Koumiss and milk symbolize happiness. The white color sacred to the Mongols makes koumiss an indispensable part of the meal during celebrations and festivals. Arkhi (vodka) is consumed. It is also called shimiin arkhi or Mongol arkhi to distinguish from commercially produced vodka. Mongol arkhi is about 10-12” proof, tasteless and transparent. Since it takes too much time and skill to produce it.

Recommended tours

Central Mongolian & Terelj National Park

2 weeks

View All

Terelj National Park

Short tours

View All

Probe the Stunning Nature of Mongolia

More than 15 days

View All

Encounter the Northern-Central Mongolia

2 weeks

View All

Encounter the Northern, Western and Southern Mongolia

More than 15 days

View All

Encounter the Ancient City of Mongolia

2 weeks

View All

Testimonial

What Client Say About us

Maria Doe

Traveller

“A home that perfectly blends sustainability with luxury until I discovered Ecoland Residence. From the moment I stepped into this community, I knew it was where I wanted to live. The commitment to eco-friendly living”

Micheal

Traveller

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.

Sara

Traveller

John

Traveller

Peder

Traveller

Get In Touch

MONGOLIAN CUISINE