Ode to Buuzi

Dumplings are popular throughout Russia. The traditional Russian form are called pilmeny, and are small and circular, somewhat crown shaped in form. These can be found at practically any Russian cafeteria (called a stolovaya) or restaurant (the pecтopaн in its Cyrillic form). In Kalmykia, they were called berigi, and were bigger, similar to pot-stickers that can be found at Chinese restaurants in the states. I, however, prefer to call them ‘meat bombs’, as the filling was pure lamb. To help keep cholesterol levels in Kalmykia at extraordinarily high levels, they are served with a pat of butter.

Yet the Buryat buuza now has a special place in my heart. There are a couple of key characteristics that separate the buuza from other, more ordinary dumplings. The first is that you eat a buuza with your hands. It is improper form to use a knife and fork. To further complicate things for those among us who have pretentions to refinement, the buuza is packed with a meat broth that is the result of the cooking process (as you can see in the photo, the outer shell forms a convenient container for holding this broth). To eat a buuza properly, you make a small hole in the side and then suck out the broth. This works pretty well, though you have to be careful to make sure that the broth isn’t too hot.

Another culinary delicacy in Buryatia is the omul, a fish from Lake Baikal. For dinner on Sunday evening we had omul with potatoes. It’s a delicious fish, with a texture and taste similar to trout. And in Buryatia it’s everywhere; for example, smoked omul was available for purchase on the train from Irkutsk to Ulan-Ude. Those living around the Lake are in a bit of a fix, however, because while the omul makes up a large proportion of the Baikal fishery, and hence the local economy, and is considered a delicacy throughout Russia, it has also been listed as an endangered species by the Russian government.