Life is beautiful

Passport & Plate - Buryatian Buuza

Russian Federation | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 5 photos

Ingredients

Buuzas are Buryatian dish from minced meat wrapped in dough and cooked on steam. The form of buuza is like yurta, a habitation of the Buryats. In the middle of round-shaped abode fireplace is situated, steam from which runs out to the hole in roof.

Filling for buuza
Beef undercut - 500 g
Flesh of fat pork - 500 g
Onion - 3 bulbs
Water - 250 ml
Spices: fresh-ground black pepper
Salt - to smb’s taste (I used 2 teaspoons)

Dough for buuzas
Water - 250 ml
Wheat flour - 3 glasses
Eggs - 2 pieces
Salt

Dough for buuzas must be stiff and elastic at the same time because we have to retain a meat juice in buuza in the process of the cooking.
Empty 3 glasses flour in a deep dish.
In the middle of flour hill make a cavity, pour in 2 eggs. add salt about a half of teaspoon.
Pour in a glass of water of room temperature.
Make round movings with ordinary spoon mix flour with eggs and water till it’s possible. It’s necessary to correct the process with adding flour, which is to be enough to absorb all the liquid.
As soon as dough for buuzas becomes so thick to mix with spoon, put the contents of the dish on the table. Knead dough by hands about 15-10 minutes adding flour if needed.
The doneness of dough is defined in such manner: the dough is not to adhere neither to hands not to table, keep form and not to spread on the table.
Ready dough powder a little with flour and leave to rest for 40 minutes, better for an hour.
While it is resting prepare filling for our buuzas.

Filling for buuzas

The meat, beef and pork, is to chop or cut into the smallest pieces with ordinary sharp knife.
Cut onion into small particles and add it to the minced meat.
Strew 2 teaspoons with salt and 1 teaspoon of black pepper.
Properly mix by hands.
Pour in a glass of water. Finally mix meat with water by hands.
We have a rested dough and a ready filling, so we can start model buuzas! :)

Shaping buuzas
Ready buuzas are in diameter about 5-8 centimeters, so we have to pick up a round form to cut the dough with diameter about 10 centimeters. I used an appropriate small deep dish.
The surface of the table is to powder with flour.
Cut a fist-measured piece of dough and roll it out with rolling-pin. The dough is to be 3 millimeters of thickness. If you make it thin, the liquid inside may run out, and if it is thicker, buuzas will not be simply delicious.
Make circles on the piece of dough with small deep dish.
Put meat In the middle of the circle. Make thinner edges of the circle and start to make nips. You have to nip dough all around the circle, joining the next nip to the previous and leaving an hole on top.
Experienced buryatian mistresses make on one buuza 33-35 nips.
For the cooking buuzas a special buuzasteamer is used. It’s a pan with special-adapted for cooking on steam holed support. But if you don’t have it you may use an ordinary steamer.
Before laying buuzas on buuzasteamer (ordinary steamer) the lower surface of buuzas is to be grease with vegetable oil. So take a dish, pour in vegetable oil a little, dip each buuza in it and place in steamer.
Cover with top and cook on steamer 25-30 minutes.
Ready buuzas are served up hot and scattered with dill and parsley.
You could serve it with sour cream as I like it, or make a sauce with sour cream and a garlic.
Ready buuzas are eaten by hands. Firstly drink an aromatic meat juice from the hole, after the buuza is carefully eaten.
Buon appetito!

The story behind this recipe
This repice is connected with my travelling to the Lake Baykal. I dreamed to visit this place since I learned about this magnificant lake with the purest water and beautiful nature. Last summer my dream came true. My friends, and its friends and me (about 30 boys and girls) made trip to the Far East of Russia on trains. Before and after visiting the Lake we stayed in Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia. A cozy city where wide spaces pass into small streets. Marvelous Opera Theater is kept in mind.
A native woman, our guide, introduce us a cafe with local cuisine, where all the dishes were cooked by hands of Buryatian people. It was a place where we tasted buuzas. They were such delicious, that we ate here each day of our staying in Ulan Ude! Buryatian people are very cultural and amicable. They were sincerely glad that we liked their dishes.
When we returned from the trip I decided to learn to cook buuzas. For me, these small pieces of dough with meat remind me Buryatia, Baykal, my friends, warm embraces and laugh, songs with guitar near the fire, admiration with primeval nature. It was a pure happiness and I smile it when I think about it :)