Buuz From the Scratch

October 28, 2013

Buuz From the Scratch

Tis one of the pending posts I have to publish. I was too busy in the past weeks that I have to let my blog hibernate. Hoho. Anyhoo.

As part of Mongolia inculturation, me and my friends made another Mongolian gourmet food -- Buuz! (pronounced as boots). Buuz is a mongolian-style steamed dumpling, filled with meat. They usually use fresh beef or mutton meat for this dumpling. Dumpling is a very common food and I guess almost every country have their own version of it. Way in my country we have this so-called siomai, a ground pork or shrimp steamed dumpling, dipped with soy sauce, calamansi (local lemon) and chili paste. I have also tried varieties of dumpling when I was in Hong Kong. Japanese have their own version called gyoza, China has xiaolongbao, ravioli in Italy, Russia's pelmeni and Dim sim in Australia. The varieties are endless. But one thing that amazes me for this dish is that, the meat isn't ground by a machine, rather delicately cut into tiniest pieces by a knife. I asked one Mongolian friend about this and her answer was very simple: the more effort you put into it, the tastier buuz you got. Aye, I don't know if it's just in the knife or wooden chopping board, but I have to believe her this time.

Buuz (Mongolian Dumpling)

For the Dough:

All-purpose flour (3 cups)

Pinch of salt

Lukewarm water

Mongolians do not really measure their cooking. They based it just by looks and texture. Maybe because this dish is very common to every Mongolian Family. Just combine the flour and the salt and create a well in the center. Put a little bit of lukewarm water at first, mix it with the flour-salt mixture, add a little bit of water if you need to until it comes up with this consistency.

Place the dough in a clean container, cover it and let it rest for a couple of minutes (30-40mins). You can make the filling on the other hand.

For the Filling:

1 Kilo Beef (sliced into small pieces)

Spring Onion

White Onion (2 large pieces)

Salt and Pepper

In a large container, combine everything and season with salt and pepper. In one Mongolian family, they add potatoes and/or rice to their filling. You can add minced garlic for a tangy flavor.

haha yes, you have to mix it with your hands! The Mongolian way :D

How to make the dumplings

1.) Remove the dough from the container and knead for a minute. Take a part, roll it into a log (about 1 inch in diameter) and cut into small slices, lightly dust with flour.

2.) Take the small pieces of dough and flattened with your palm. Finally, roll it out with a rolling pin to create a circle (about 3-4 inch in diameter), the center slightly thicker than the edge

3.) Place a teaspoon of filling in the center of the circle dough in your hand and close the dough in a pinch-fold-pinch manner, rotating the dough as you go along. (This is not as easy as the picture suggested! I've created a lot of "rejected" buuz out of this and my friends can't help but laugh and say their most common expression: "Oooh, yanaaa")