Buryat cuisine: recipes and dishes

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Buryatia is a part of Siberia with a rich ancient history. Throughout its existence, it has experienced many transformations, which, of course, have left their mark on its culture. Buryat cuisine is a vivid reflection of all the political and historical changes that have taken place on the territory of the republic for many centuries.

Distinguishing Features

The people of Buryatia were formed spontaneously. When at the beginning of the 18th century Russia clearly defined its external border with China, some Mongolian tribes remained in Transbaikalia. It was they who made up the very Buryat people in the future, which combined different cultures, religions and customs. All tribes have contributed to this in their own way. The famous Buryat cuisine has preserved the peculiarity of each of them. Most of the people living in this area previously led a nomadic lifestyle. They were forced to spend a huge amount of energy every day, which they replenished through food. This is probably why Buryat cuisine includes hearty and very high-calorie dishes.

Local people are very fond of various rich soups and, of course, meat. Usually thislamb or horse meat. Buryat cuisine has hundreds of different options for their preparation. Of the first courses, shulep is the most famous. This is a soup with homemade noodles, vegetables and fresh herbs, cooked in lamb broth. Homemade sausages made from a mixture of different types of meat are also very popular. And after eating, the Buryats like to drink unusual green tea with s alt, butter and milk. It is considered the real national energy drink and is always served when meeting guests.

Dough Dishes

Many people don't even realize how diverse and interesting Buryat cuisine is. The recipes of some dishes, however, are very similar to those prepared by the inhabitants of central Russia or the peoples of Transcaucasia. Take, for example, very tasty and fragrant poses.

To make them in Buryat style, you need to have the following products:

• For the dough: in a glass of water - 2 eggs and flour to make the mass cool.
• For the filling: 0.5 kilograms each of beef and pork, a glass of water, two onions, 3 cloves of garlic, a little chili, paprika, green onions, s alt and basil.

The cooking process consists of 4 parts:

1. First of all, the filling is prepared. To do this, the meat must be ground into minced meat, and then put chopped garlic with onions and other seasonings. Add water to the resulting mass and mix again.
2. To prepare the dough for a beaten egg with water, gradually, without stopping the kneading, add flour in parts until it becomes steep enough. After that, the massleave for 40 minutes, after covering it with a towel.
3. Roll out the dough into a layer, and then divide it into round pieces using a mold. Knead each piece so that its edges are thinner than the middle.
4. Put the filling in the center of each blank, and then pinch the edges so that a small hole remains on top.
5. Place semi-finished products in a double boiler and leave them there for 30 minutes.

Appetizing poses can be sprinkled with soy sauce and pepper before serving.

Fragrant shangi

Some dishes of Buryat cuisine are borrowed from other nations. So, for example, the famous shangi is better known as a Mongolian dish. This once again confirms the origin of the Buryat people.

To cook real shangi, you will definitely need: 900 grams of flour (of which 600 are wheat, and 300 are rye), a pinch of s alt, 250 grams of butter, a glass of barley groats, a little sour cream and 250 milliliters (a glass) of sour milk.

It won't take long to cook:

1. First, butter needs to be chopped with flour into crumbs.
2. Then add sour milk and knead a cool but elastic dough, and then put it in the refrigerator for 8-10 hours. It's better to do it in advance.
3. Together with the dough, prepare the filling separately. It is a grain with s alt, filled with sour milk.
4. The prepared mass is divided into balls, each of which is rolled into a thin cake.
5. To form a semi-finished product, put on each blanka little stuffing, and wrap its edges so that you get a small side.
6. Put the products on a baking sheet covered with baking paper and send them to the oven. There they will be until they turn brown. 5-6 minutes before readiness, each piece should be poured with melted butter.

Fragrant baskets are made in every Buryat family. Moreover, you can also use cottage cheese or mashed potatoes as a filling.

National soup

Real connoisseurs understand that, first of all, the Buryat national cuisine is the famous rich soup called bukhler.

For its preparation you will need: for 3 kilograms of beef with a bone - 6 onions, 8 black peppercorns, s alt, bay leaf and a little parsley.

You need to prepare such a dish as follows:

1. Put the meat in a cauldron, fill it with water and put on fire.
2. A few minutes after boiling, add some s alt and three whole onions.
3. Make the fire smaller and leave the food to cook for about one hour.
4. After the time has elapsed, the meat must be removed. Instead, add chopped greens and the remaining onion, cut into strips, with spices.

Products need quite a bit to boil together. After that, hot soup can immediately be served on the table. Separately, on a plate, you can put a piece of boiled meat and potatoes.

Unique product

Salamat is another dish that the Buryat people can be proud ofkitchen. The photo is not able to convey the unique aroma that it exudes.

Cooking it is easy. You only need to have: 300 milliliters of thick sour cream and 4 tablespoons of ordinary wheat flour.

The cooking process usually takes place in several stages:

1. Pour sour cream into a saucepan and bring to a boil while stirring constantly.
2. As soon as bubbles appear, you need to add flour and stir the mass so that there are no lumps left in it.
3. After a while, large yellow drops of oil will begin to stand out on the surface. This will be the signal for the end of cooking.

Salamat can be eaten both hot and cold. Before serving, a little kefir is sometimes added to the pan. Buryats are very fond of such an unusual porridge. It should not contain any sugar or s alt. This is the speci alty of the dish. Salamat is sometimes eaten with boiled potatoes. Not only is it delicious, it's also highly nutritious.

Culture to the masses

Buryat cuisine in Moscow is represented by many catering establishments. The most famous of them is the Selenge restaurant. It is located on Malaya Dmitrovka and offers visitors many dishes of not only Buryat, but also Mongolian, Tibetan and European cuisine. The restaurant is open until midnight and is ready to feed anyone who decides to get to know the culture of friendly eastern countries. Among the hot dishes on the menu are the famous buuzy (chopped meat) and sharbin (belyashi). Huge range of soups ("Genghis Khan", hara shul, bukhler,"Gobi Desert" and "Homemade Noodles") will allow you to choose the option that suits you. Visitors can try numerous salads (“Khabar”, “Baikal”, “Khan”, “Sayans”) made from vegetables, meat, mushrooms and herbs according to ancient national recipes. And you can finish your meal with real Buryat tea, the secret of which is familiar to chefs firsthand. This place is always crowded. People come here with pleasure to once again enjoy the unique taste of national dishes and at least touch the rich history of the ancient people.