Dumplings · Steamer Stall Staple

Buuz

📷 Closely related photo — Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use

Ahead of Tsagaan Sar (Lunar New Year), Mongolian households traditionally hand-fold thousands of buuz at once and freeze them outdoors in the winter cold — nature's chest freezer.

A thin dough wrapper is pinched around minced mutton or beef mixed with onion and garlic, leaving a small steam vent at the top, then stacked in tiered steamers over boiling water. Street vendors and market stalls in Ulaanbaatar sell them hot, a few pieces at a time, straight from the steamer basket.

Why it's made this way: Buuz are the centerpiece of Tsagaan Sar celebrations, when families compete to prepare enormous batches by hand — a custom rooted in Mongolia's nomadic herding calendar and its reliance on portable, freezable meat-and-dough staples.