How to Make Buuz/Bansh: A Photographic How-To

Thanks Mel, Ellen and Mom. :) I know I have a lot of time to figure out what I’m doing in the future… I tend to think about it a lot since I have the time on my hands to think about such things.

Just finished up a lovely conversation with Ellen about… Ocean’s 11, 12, and 13, whist I was trying to clean my desk. Sundays are usually my cleaning day. By the way, I think 13 is my favorite! Mmm George Clooney.

As I mentioned, Tsaagan Sar is THIS WEEK. I’m not hosting my own Tsaagan Sar, but I’ve been invited to a bunch of houses already. Suvdaa’s even got her stack of 50 tug bills to give to the children who come’a knocking. Seriously, it’s like trick-or-treating for the kids, except they get MONEY. Alex told us last year kids came knocking at his apartment building, but since no one was answering their doors, the kids shut off the circuit breaker. Nice!

I also got my new deel (traditional Mongolian dress) this week. I'll have to upload those pictures after Tsaagan Sar. Remind me.

Last weekend I went to Suvdaa’s home to make bansh, which are like mini-buzz (dumplings). It was interesting to explain to her that we just have the one word for dumplings; that we don’t specify between sizes like they do.

In keeping with my new year’s resolutions, I did a photo-how-to on how to make bansh!

Start with mixing flour and water... make a  dough ball!

                

  Let the dough rest...

                    

            While the dough rests, take out your sturdy knives and
                     choice of meat (in this case, it's beef, but you can have camel, sheep, goat, whatever!)
       Just be sure NOT to trim the fat! (Mongolians love it!)

Cut the meat in big strips...

...then take those strips and cut them into even tiny-er strips...

Make sure to look FABULOUS while doing it!

...and cut again to make tiny cubes of MEAT

Now that you've chopped the meat,
put a handful of salt into a bowl of water for the onions.

Next, chop the onions into REALLY SMALL PIECES!
This is Suvdaa's daughter, such a helper! :)

Onions into the water-salt mix!

Onion-salt mix, into the meat mmmm

Now rooool it out into a desired thickness (thicker
for buuz, thinner for bansh)

While waiting that to marinate, check out the dough
that was resting, and kneed it like ya need it.

Cut the roll it into a desired thickness and press it,
making a cute little dough-coin thing

                                          

                DOUGH! IMMA EAT CHOO

Now the trick to good buuz is the rolling and the pinching-
roll from the inside to make a disk that's slightly thicker in the middle.

Now add the meat + onion mix...

...and pinch the top like an accordion... or something
I'm really terrible at it. So don't listen to me.

          
                     TA-DA!

                              

           Suvdaa even taught me how to do the buuz folding... which I failed at. Big time.

Can you tell which one I made? Ha.

                                

           All that's left is to cook 'em! This is milk tea, a traditional Mongolian drink.
            It's a mix of water, milk, tea from drained tea leaves, and a little salt.

                        

                                 IN GOES THE BANSH!

Boil, and SERVE!

Eat it with friends! Hom nom nom!

And that's about it! Easy-peasy yeah? So now go make your own and let me know how it goes. :)

Happy Tsaagan Sar, everyone!

Сар шинэдээ сайхан шинэлээрэй!