MONGOLIAN FOOD

The Mongolian diet really depends on where you are in Mongolia and what time of year it is. In the south a staple diet of mutton and camel with camel dairy products is the norm. However, in the Khangai Mountains, beef is more common. In the city of Ulaanbaatar, there is a much larger range of foods, for both Mongolian and Foreign people. The Mongolian climate means that the calorific intake needs to be higher in the winter months than in the summer. For this reason, herders will often eat boiled animal fat.

Vegetables are a relatively recent addition to the Mongolian diet. In the past dairy products and undercooked meat compensated the vitamin shortage. Some dishes were seasoned with wild onions and garlic.

Mongolian's believe that the most parts of their livestock can be eaten. Sheep are slaughtered by a traditional method, which allows the meat to stay clean, and which prevents heavy blood loss. A cut is made in the chest of the sheep and the heart artery is severed. The carcass is divided into several large parts – neck, brisket, ribs, blades, loin, rump and legs. Boned meat is used to make several dishes including bansh and buutz.

In the countryside food tends to be cooked once a day, unless guests arrive. In the morning and afternoon, milk tea is drunk with Boortsog (butter biscuits fried in oil) and meat boiled the night before. Food is only cooked for summer. Most of the time it is boiled meat and broth to which noodles, rice or other groats are added to taste.

Boodog is perhaps the most traditional Mongolian dish. It is prepared from goat or marmot 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.

The Mongol's 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. Beef is cut into long strips that 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 is powdered and then put into boiling water.

With the advent of spring and the beginning of calving and lambing, Mongols switch to diary products including koumiss. It would be hard to list all the dishes prepared from the milk of the five domestic animals. There are all kinds of sour milk, curds and cheese that are eaten separately or in dishes made with them, which have their specific names. The same dishes prepared from 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 it to tea. Salt and milk are indispensable components of Mongolian tea. Mongols use a 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, or it can be put into tea.

By melting urum, yellow butter or shar-tos is obtained. This can be preserved all winter for frying gambira, Mongolian Cakes.

Aruul is believed to be behind Mongolians' strong and healthy teeth. Aruul is curdled milk, dehydrated and thoroughly dried in the air and sun. There is practically no limit to its shelf life. Hard dried curds are almost impossible to chew and have to be sucked.

Herders have prepared koumiss for several centuries. Mare's or Camel's milk is collected in a leather bag and churned. It is believed that koumiss contains A, C and some B vitamins and arrests the growth and proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms. Furthermore, it is supposed to be effective against lung and stomach diseases, braces up the nervous system and improves 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 preparing 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. Koumiss and milk symbolise happiness. The white colour sacred to the Mongols makes koumiss and indispensable part of the meal during celebrations and festivities.

The habit of sour milk distillation has survived in some places in Mongolia. Five degrees of distillation are know – arkhi, arz, khorz, sharz and dun. As a rule, arkhi (or vodka) is consumed. It is also called shimiyn arkhi or Mongol arkhi to distinguish from commercially produced vodka. Mongol arkhi is about 10-12o proof, tasteless and transparent. Since it takes a lot of time and skill to produce it, many Mongols now prefer to buy stronger drinks.