Happy Lunar New Year! It’s called Tsagaan Sar in Mongolia, and I this grandiose plan to make these dumplings called Buuz. Sometimes I can be overly ambitious, but somehow I sort of got these done.
These Buuz (Mongolian Dumplings) are traditionally made of yak or mutton meat. Enter my first dilemma: yak is impossible to find in greater Boston (no kidding, right?) and mutton too — or I had to buy a frozen 4 pound block and then what was I going to do with the rest of the mutton? Lamb would have been the obvious choice, but I don’t eat veal or lamb. Goat meat from the halal butcher right around the corner? I went with bison instead because I know what bison tastes like, I like it, and I could buy a 1/2 pound without having leftovers. Dilemma number 2 is that I actually am not great at making any dumplings, but I was bound-and-determined not to let the year of the dragon get me on the first day, so I managed to make a dozen, even if some of them are a little misshapen.
Final tidbit of trivia? Buuz are evidently served with ketchup. Yup, ketchup. Because ketchup is a delicacy in Mongolia. Or something. Although I guess that I could see if being a hard thing to get in Ulaanbaatar. Again, this seemed a bit strange to me, so I mixed together my usual dumpling dipping sauce. That wasn’t in the steamer basket when I steamed the buuz; I just put it there for presentation.
So, Happy New Year! May you have a prosperous, happy and healthy year.
Lunchtime! Back at it with the “Filled Pasta/Dumplings” topic, this time headed to Eastern Europe with this Potato Pierogi Skillet with Kielbasa and Cabbage dish. True comfort food with cabbage, sausage and pierogi. You could also make a similar dish with sauerkraut (just a different iteration of cabbage) and I did put a little bit of whole grain mustard in this to give it a little zip. Double the recipe to feed a crowd.
Item Number two for Filled Pasta / Dumpling Week in this week’s Ingredient of the Week. I made something pretty over-the-top decadent yet comfort food at the same time. This riff on Lobster Mac & Cheese uses tortellini, a creamy cheese sauce and a healthy portion of Maine Lobster — you can swap out your favorite crustacean for crab meat or even shrimp/prawns of you don’t have lobster handy. Very rich, but also very yummy. Maybe the perfect thing for the seafood lover in your life for Valentine’s Day.
I love Shakshuka. It’s a veggie heavy (onions, peppers, tomatoes), spicy, Middle Easter / North African dish that works well from breakfast to dinner. I’ve also made version with meat and seafood (shrimp/prawns) or spinach and/or zuccchini. You always poach eggs in the stew and add feta after it is out of the oven. Most of the recipes that I have found are “to feed a crowd” though, with 6 to 8 eggs, so I decided to make a version just for one, or possibly two people. Serve with crusty bread or pita.