Budaatai Khuurga - A Culinary Tour of Mongolia

Joan from Foodalogue who has been taking us on a worldwide virtual culinary adventure now takes us to a travel destination that brings to life the cuisine of Mongolia. The general cuisine is both dairy and meat with an extremely strong influence from China. Today, I've prepared a Budaatai Hkuurga which loosely translated is stew with rice and vegetables. When I prepared it, I thought - hmmm...this is like a stir fry (here's the Chinese influence).



Budaatai Khuurga

Ingredients

150-200 g Meat Traditionally, mutton is used, other types of meat such as beef work just as well.
Mongolians consider fat meat to be of higher quality, but there's no problem in using western style lean meat.

250 gm Rice (cooked)
Oil for frying
1 small Onion Cut in half rings.
2 Garlic cloves Minced
300-400 g Vegetables
- Carrots
- Bell peppers
- White cabbage
- others Cut in strips
Salt
Pepper

Prepare the rice


Put rice, water, some salt and some oil in a pan and bring to a boil.
Keep boiling on low heat, until the water level has fallen below the rice- approximately 10 min
Simmer for another 10 min

Prepare the Vegetables
Sauté the onions in a lot of oil. (I used just less than 1/4 c)
Add the strips of vegetables and sauté as well
Very slow cooking vegetables
Add the meat and fry it with the vegetables.
Season to taste with pepper, salt, and other spices.
Add the finished rice, and mix everything together

Note: Although the oil may seem excessive, it's necessary for the dry rice. Very delicious dish.