Buuz

Buuz are the steamed meat dumplings of Mongolia and of Buryatia across the Russian border: a thick wheat-flour wrapper pleated by hand around a filling of chopped mutton or beef with onion, garlic and salt, gathered at the top so that a small hole is left open, and steamed until the wrapper is glossy and the inside has filled with broth. They are the dish of Tsagaan Sar, the lunar new year in February, when a household will make and freeze several hundred in advance and steam them for every visitor over several days, and they are everyday food in the guanz canteens of Ulaanbaatar, where a plate of five to eight with a bowl of salty milk tea is lunch. The Buryat version, pronounced buuza or pozy, is slightly larger and more often made with a mix of beef and pork; in both places the dumpling is eaten in the hand and the first bite is taken at the base so the broth can be drunk before the rest.