Inner Mongolian Cuisine

Formation and Characteristics of Inner Mongolian Cuisine

Mongolian Cuisine mainly refers to the dishes prepared by the Mongolian people living in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in compact communities.

Known as the "ethnic group on horseback" the population of the Mongolian ethnic group is the largest among all the ethnic minority groups in China. Inner Mongolia covers an area of about 1,180,000 km, ranking third in China. The Mongolian people are scattered over a vast area.

The long-time nomadic life of the Mongolian people has an influence on their dietetic habits. Their way of life forbids them to take painstaking efforts to prepare food. Therefore, their cooking methods are very simple. Their nomadic habits have determined that meat and milk are their major raw materials for preparing food, such as mutton, beef, and deer.

The cooking techniques of the Mongolian people mainly include boiling, roasting, and frying. They are especially good at preparing meat dishes. Most of the meat prepared by the Mongolians are delicious and tender, with a strong flavor.

Famous Dishes and Snacks of Some Cities in Inner Mongolia

(1). Hohhot and Baotou

Hohhot and Baotou are two major cities in Inner Mongolia. With a long history and colorful culture, the two cities are known for their advanced catering business. In the restaurants of the two cities, one can enjoy not only the dishes and snacks with distinct Mongolian characteristics but also delicacies from all the local schools of Chinese cuisine.

Special Local Dishes:

Roast Whole Sheep—烤全羊

Procedure: Get a two-year-old wether and slaughter it; clean it thoroughly; apply mixed seasonings to the sheep; roast it in a specially made stove. Before the roast sheep is sliced, the hosts usually show it to the guests. Traditionally, the mutton is eaten together with seasoning juice and thin pancakes. It is an indispensable dish at important Mongolian festivals and celebrations.

Roast Sheep’s Leg—烤羊腿

Procedure: Slash the sheep’s rear leg diagonally; add a wide variety of condiments to it, such as onions, ginger, carrots, celeries, tomatoes, peppers, soy sauce, cooking wine and salt; roast the sheep’s leg with an oven. When it is ready, the leg is aromatic, oily, and not greasy.

Stewed Hump and Mushrooms—驼峰扒口蘑

Procedure: Take sliced hump and mushrooms as the main ingredients; stew hump slices and mushrooms with chicken broth, respectively; braise them together to make a dish. The dish is palatable and nutritious.

Special Local Snacks:

A Litter of Dragons—一窝龙

Hada Cake—哈达饼

Procedure: Mix butter with water and flour; add white sugar, melon seeds, walnut kernels and osmanthus flowers to the dough; bake the cake. The cake originated from Ulanhada Town, hence the name.

Mongolian Steamed Bun with Stuffing—蒙古包子

Ingredients of this snack include mutton, flour, carrots, leek, sourdough and various kinds of seasonings.

Procedure: Chop the mutton into small pieces and put them into small pots; pour soy sauce and pepper water into the pot; pound the mutton into a paste; add chopped green onion to the meat; clean the carrots; chop the carrots into small pieces and add them into the meat; add water, sourdough into the flour and knead the dough; make bun skins from the dough; cover the stuffing with skins and shape the stuffing into buns; steam the buns.

Mongolian Steamed Bun with Stuffing is a favorite snack of the Mongolian herdsmen. The stuffing of genuine Mongolian Steamed Bun is made of mutton. The stuffing is made not from a piece of mutton cut from a specific part of the sheep, but from the minced meat of a whole sheep. The Mongolian Steamed Bun with Stuffing features a large stuffing, a thin skin, and a pleasant smell.

Shaomai—烧卖

(Steamed dumpling with a dough gathered at the top.)

Various kinds of food made of naked oats—各种莜面面食

Tea with Milk—奶茶

Procedure: Crush brick tea; boil the tea with cold water; add salt and raw milk to the tea; boil the tea and milk.

Chopped Cooked Entrails of Sheep—羊杂碎

All these snacks exhibit distinct characteristics of the Mongolian people, although some of the dishes listed above combine the features of the Mongolian Cuisine with those of other schools of Chinese cuisine.

The Roast Whole Sheep Banquet—烤全羊席

The Roast Whole Sheep Banquet is a typical Mongolian banquet, at which a whole roast sheep is served, as well as four to six cold dishes, eight to 12 hot dishes, and four to eight main dishes. In the past, only the Mongolian chieftains could throw the Roast Whole Sheep Banquet to entertain their honored guests. In addition, there is the Steamed Whole Sheep Banquet, at which other dishes and snacks are also served.

(2). Common Grassland Food of Inner Mongolia

The food eaten by Mongolian herdsmen shows the typical characteristics of life on the grassland, such as:

Mutton Eaten with Fingers—手把肉

Procedure: Cut the whole sheep into four parts; plunge the mutton into a pot with boiling water; boil the mutton until all the blood is gone; place the mutton in wooden plates and serve it.

At the table, all the eaters sit around the mutton plates, each holding a small knife for cutting mutton. They cut the mutton and eat it with their fingers, hence the name. People may dip mutton into prepared seasonings first before eating.

Hada Cake—哈达饼

Tea with Milk—奶茶

Yoghurt—酸奶

Skin Formed on the Boiled Milk—奶皮子

Horse Milk Wine—马奶酒

Milk Tofu—奶豆腐

Cheese—奶酪

Fried Flour—炒饼

Fried Rice—炒米

Preserved Sand Onions—腌沙葱

Preserved Sand Leaf Mustard—腌沙芥

Fried Rice—炒米

This dish is the staple food of Mongolian herdsmen. The herdsmen often prefer soaking the rice in tea with milk before eating it. Except for this dish, the Mongolian herdsmen like braised dishes more than fried ones. They often plunge all kinds of ingredients into one pot to braise them—a convenient and effortless method indeed. If one add different kinds of seasonings to the rice, this dish will have different flavors.

Mutton Eaten with Fingers—手把肉

It is the commonest food that the Mongolian people prepared to entertain guests.

Wucha Mutton (also called Sheep Back Meat)—五叉羊肉

The procedure to prepare it is Slaughter a whole sheep; get rid of the sheep’s skin and internal organs; boil the sheep and serve it.

Usually, the herdsmen throw the “Wucha Sheep Banquet (羊五叉席)” at festivals and wedding ceremony, or to entertain honored guests. Wucha Mutton is the main course at the banquet.

At the banquet, tea with milk, butter, skin formed on boiled milk and other dairy products are first served, which are followed by four cool dishes and wine, staple food (jiaozi dumplings, noodles, and porridge), dairy products and fried food. During the banquet, the host and guests usually sing and dance and chat with each other happily, the whole banquet bustling with noise and excitement. Right before the banquet is ended, everyone should drink a cup of wine.

(3). Some Dishes of Other Ethnic Minority Groups in Inner Mongolia

There are more than ten ethnic minority groups in Inner Mongolia which include Manchu, Hui, Daur, Ewenki, Oroqen, Korean, Xibo, Tujia, Dongxiang and Miao. With the development of the economy, the exchanges between various ethnic minority peoples have hugely increased, and the cuisines of different ethnic groups have also flourished.

The representative dishes of other ethnic minorities in Inner Mongolia includes:

Tea of Deer Milk—马鹿奶茶

Wild Fruit Wine—野果酒

An Interesting Story about a Mongolian Dish

A Litter of Dragons—一窝龙

A Litter of Dragons is a famous dish in Inner Mongolia, with a history of over 100 years. A Legend goes like this: During the Qing Dynasty, King Lord Alxa was keen on delicious food. One year, when he returned from the capital, he brought back a highly skilled chef, Master Wang, to prepare delicacies from all kinds of cuisines for him. One day, the Lord dreamed of a group of young dragons playing happily, and that day happened to be the birthday of his son. Thinking it was a good omen, King Lord Alxa was so glad that he ordered the chef to prepare a birthday banquet for his son. During the banquet, a plate of aromatic and bright beets was served, and his son was very fond of it. King Lord asked the chef about the dish’s name; Master Wang replied: “A Litter of Dragons,” which coincided with his dream. On hearing this, King Lord Alxa shouted: “Bravo!” and gave the chef a hefty reward. In reality, the dish is just an ordinary dish prepared with beets, Chinese yams, jujubes, and rock candies. This dish is very good for people’s health.