Buryatia is a part of Siberia with a rich ancient history. Over the entire period of existence, she has gone through many transformations, which, of course, left their mark on her culture. Buryat cuisine is a vivid reflection of all the political and historical changes that have occurred on the territory of the republic for many centuries.
Distinctive features
The people of Buryatia were formed spontaneously. When Russia clearly defined its external border with China at the beginning of the 18th century, some Mongol tribes remained in Transbaikalia. It was they who in the future made up the very Buryat people who combined different cultures, religions and customs. All tribes in their own way made a definite contribution to this. The famous Buryat cuisine retained the peculiarity of each of them. Basically, people living in this territory previously led a nomadic lifestyle. They were forced to spend a huge amount of energy daily, which was replenished by food. This is probably why the Buryat cuisine includes hearty and very high-calorie dishes.
Local people are very fond of various rich soups and, of course, meat. This is usually lamb or horse meat. Buryat cuisine has hundreds of different cooking options. Of the first courses, shulap is the most famous. This is a soup with homemade noodles, vegetables and fresh herbs, cooked on lamb broth. House sausages made from a mixture of different types of meat are also very popular. And after eating, Buryats love to drink unusual green tea with salt, butter and milk. It is considered a real national energy drink and is always served when meeting guests.
Dough Dishes
Many do not even realize how diverse and interesting the Buryat cuisine is. The recipes of some dishes, however, are very similar to those prepared by residents of central Russia or the peoples of the Transcaucasus. Take, for example, very tasty and fragrant poses.
To make them in Buryat, you must have the following products:
- For the test: in a glass of water - 2 eggs and flour, so that the mass turns out to be cool.
- For the filling: 0.5 kilograms of beef and pork, a glass of water, two onions, 3 cloves of garlic, a little chili pepper, paprika, green onion salt and basil.
The cooking process consists of 4 parts:
- The first step is preparing the filling. To do this, grind meat into minced meat, and then put chopped garlic with onions and other seasonings. Add water to the resulting mass and mix again.
- To prepare the dough for a beaten egg with water, gradually, without stopping kneading, add flour in parts until it becomes steep enough. After this, the mass must be left for 40 minutes, after covering it with a towel.
- Roll out the dough into a layer, and then use the form to divide it into round billets. Knead each piece so that its edges are thinner than the middle.
- Put the filling in the center of each workpiece, and then pinch the edges so that a small hole remains on top.
- Place the semi-finished products in a double boiler and leave them there for 30 minutes.
Before serving, mouth-watering poses can be poured with soy sauce and sprinkled with pepper.
Fragrant shangs
Some dishes of Buryat cuisine are borrowed from other peoples. So, for example, the famous shangs are better known as a Mongolian dish. This once again confirms the origin of the Buryat people.
To make real shangs, you will definitely need: 900 grams of flour (600 of them are wheat and 300 rye), a pinch of salt, 250 grams of butter, a glass of barley groats, a little sour cream and 250 milliliters (glass) of sour milk.
Cooking does not take much time:
- First you need to chop the butter with flour into crumbs.
- Then add sour milk and knead a cool, but elastic dough, and then put it in the refrigerator for 8-10 hours. Make it better in advance.
- Together with the dough, separately prepare the filling. It is a cereal with salt, filled with sour milk.
- Divide the prepared mass into balls, each of which is rolled into a thin cake.
- To form a semi-finished product, put a little filling on each workpiece, and wrap its edges so that a small side is obtained.
- Put the products on a baking sheet covered with baking paper and send them to the oven. There they will remain until they are browned. 5-6 minutes before readiness, each workpiece must be poured with melted butter.
Fragrant tartlets are made in every Buryat family. Moreover, as the filling, you can also use cottage cheese or mashed potatoes.
National soup
Real experts understand that, first of all, Buryat national cuisine is a famous rich soup called bukhler.
For its preparation you will need: for 3 kilograms of beef with a bone - 6 onions, 8 peas of black pepper, salt, bay leaf and a little parsley.
Prepare such a dish as follows:
- Put the meat in a cauldron, fill it with water and put on fire.
- A few minutes after boiling add a little salt and three whole onions.
- Make the fire smaller and let the food cook for about one hour.
- After time, the meat must be removed. Instead, add chopped herbs and the remaining onion, chopped into strips, with spices.
Products need a little boil together. After that, hot soup can be served immediately. Separately, on a plate you can put a piece of boiled meat and potatoes.
Unique product
Salamat is another dish that Buryat cuisine can be proud of. The photo is not able to convey the unique aroma that it exudes.
It’s easy to cook. 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:
- Pour sour cream into a pan and bring to a boil with constant stirring.
- As soon as the bubbles appear, pour in the flour and stir the mass so that there are no lumps left in it.
- After a while, large yellow drops of oil will begin to stand out on the surface. This will be a signal to finish cooking.
You can eat salamat 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 be neither sugar nor salt. This is the peculiarity of the dish. Sometimes salamat is eaten with boiled potatoes. It is not only delicious, but also very 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 a variety of dishes not only from Buryat, but also from Mongolian, Tibetan and European cuisine. The restaurant is open until midnight and is ready to feed everyone who has decided to get to know the culture of friendly eastern countries. The menu includes hot dishes - the famous buuzy (minced meat) and sharbin (white meat ). A huge assortment 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", "Baikalsky", "Khan", "Sayan"), prepared from vegetables, meat, mushrooms and herbs according to ancient national recipes. And you can finish the meal with real Buryat tea, the secret of which is familiar to the chefs firsthand. In this institution there are always a lot of people. People are happy to come here to once again enjoy the unique taste of national dishes and at least touch a little of the rich history of the ancient people.