Bansh

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gplain flour
• about 250 ml water
• 1 tspsalt

Filling

• 500 gminced mutton or beef, with good fat content
• 1onion, very finely chopped
• 3 clovesgarlic
• 1 tspsalt
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 3 tbspwater or broth

To cook

• mutton broth, or salted water
• or süütei tsai, the milk tea

Optional

• a little grated cabbage or carrot in the filling

To serve

• in broth, in milk tea, or fried

Directions

1. Use mutton with a good proportion of fat, or add extra fat to lean meat. Mongolian cooking uses fat deliberately and generously, and a lean filling gives dry, disappointing dumplings.
2. Chop it rather than grating it, and chop it very fine, since large pieces of onion make the dumplings difficult to seal. Adding water to the filling is a real technique rather than an oddity, since it turns to steam inside the dumpling and keeps the meat succulent.
3. Work the mixture with your hand in one direction for a couple of minutes until it becomes sticky and cohesive. Mix the flour, salt and water into a firm dough and knead it for ten minutes until smooth. Keep it firm rather than soft, since a slack dough tears as you fill and seal it.
4. Rest it, covered, for at least thirty minutes so it relaxes and rolls easily. Now roll it thin and cut small rounds, about six centimetres across. Keep them small, since bansh are meant to be a single mouthful. Roll each round a little thinner at the edges than in the middle, which helps them seal without a thick doughy seam.
5. Put a small spoonful of filling in the centre of each round. Do not overfill, which is the commonest failure and makes them impossible to close properly. Fold them into half-moons and pinch the edge firmly closed, or pleat them along one side. Check that each is completely sealed, since an open seam lets the filling and its juices escape into the pot.
6. Set them on a floured tray without touching, and they freeze extremely well at this stage. For bansh in broth, drop them into simmering mutton broth and cook for eight to ten minutes.
7. Keep it at a simmer rather than a rolling boil, which knocks them about and splits them open. They float when they are nearly done, and they need another two minutes after that. Serve them hot in their broth or tea, in deep bowls.

Technique

• Bansh dropped into salted milk tea makes banshtai tsai, which is an everyday dish.
• Buuz are the larger steamed relatives eaten at Tsagaan Sar.
• They freeze extremely well raw and are cooked from frozen.

Substitutions

• Beef or lamb in place of mutton.
• Ready-made dumpling wrappers, which save considerable time.

Variations

• Banshtai tsai, cooked in salted milk tea.
• Fried after boiling, which is common.
• Buuz, the larger steamed version.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bansh?

Bansh is a main from Mongolia: small boiled mutton dumplings, often dropped into milk tea or broth.

How long does Bansh take to make?

Bansh takes 1 hr 30 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 60 small dumplings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Bansh?

Yes, within limits. Beef or lamb in place of mutton. Ready-made dumpling wrappers, which save considerable time.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bansh?

Chop it rather than grating it, and chop it very fine, since large pieces of onion make the dumplings difficult to seal. Adding water to the filling is a real technique rather than an oddity, since it turns to steam inside the dumpling and keeps the meat succulent.