(1) milk food
Dairy food is mainly made of milk from cattle, sheep, horses and camels. In pastoral areas, milk is the top grade, with large output and consumption, followed by goat milk. Few people use horse milk and camel milk. During the milk production season, cows are milked twice a day. Dairy sheep (mainly goats) once a day. During the hay season, cows are milked at noon every day, and dairy sheep are no longer milked.
Freshly squeezed milk is called fresh milk or raw milk, which can be drunk directly, soaked in fried rice or cooked with milk tea.
Pour fresh milk into a clean container, put it in the shade in summer, and put it on a warm kang in winter. After a while, it will ferment and solidify to form solidified milk. It tastes sour and sweet, cool and refreshing, and can be eaten with fried rice and rice.
Coagulated milk is divided into two layers, the upper layer is light yellow and milky. Mongolian is called "Zhu He" and Chinese is called "Chew". It is very fragrant when mixed with fried rice and rice, and cream can be extracted. Its lower layer is a white block, rich in protein. It's called kudan milk, which can be eaten directly or made into milk tofu.
Pour Zhu He into a white cloth bag, hang it in the shade to drain the water, pour it into a pot, heat it slowly, and stir it slowly with a spoon. There is clear cream floating on the top, which is called "Xiri Taosu" in Mongolian, that is, butter and cream. The remaining oil residue is called "Qugui", which is delicious and has the effect of dispelling fire and resolving phlegm.
Pour fresh milk into an iron pan, add a small amount of fried rice to boil, and beat the milk repeatedly with a spoon until the milk bubbles float on it and no milk boils. Stop beating, remove the fire and cool, and a layer of skin will form on it, which is called "Urumu ink" in Mongolian and "milk skin" in Chinese. Take out the milk skin to dry, separate the water from the milk, heat it with slow fire, scoop out the separated milk one by one, cook the rest to a certain extent, and put it in a mold to dry, which will become "Ejige", which is dark yellow and slightly sour, and looks like milk tofu.
Milk tofu, also known as cheese, is called "Huyunxiang" in Mongolian. Its preparation method is to pour the remaining condensed milk extracted from Zhu He into a pot and boil it, then add a small amount of yogurt to precipitate milk like brine, take out the milk block with a hedge, wrap it with a white cloth towel, squeeze it with a wooden board until the water is squeezed out, then shape it, and take it out and dry it for half a day to get the milk tofu. It is an indispensable milk food for herders all year round.
Collect the whey separated from milk tofu and Ejige, put it in a container and ferment it on a warm kang, and it becomes "Ai Rige". During storage, a small amount of fresh milk is added once a day and stirred to form a layer of milk bubbles on the Ai Rige, which can be used to soak fried rice and rice for eating after being taken out. Just like "Zhu He", slightly sour. The part below the milk bubble is called "Chaga", which is the raw material for making milk wine. Chaga, which has been fermented for a long time, tastes extremely sour and is used as a seasoning for rice porridge and noodle soup by herders. Drying Chacha in a pot to make solid yogurt is called "Aga rule", which has a miraculous effect on gastrointestinal indigestion.
Mare's milk is mainly used as beverage or making mare's milk wine, and camel milk is mostly used as starter or medicine.
(2) Milk wine
Milk wine is called "Hariri" in Mongolian.
Milk wine is characterized by clear, mellow, refreshing, soft and sour. When I first drank it, I felt that the wine was not strong, but I had enough stamina. People who can drink a bottle of beer at a meal will get drunk if they drink more than one kilogram of milk wine. Milk wine has the effects of expelling cold, promoting blood circulation, relaxing tendons and activating collaterals, invigorating kidney and stomach, strengthening spleen and strengthening bones. Mongolian people often drink milk wine as medicine, which can treat diseases such as stomach trouble, low back pain and tuberculosis.
Pastoral herdsmen often entertain VIPs with milk wine. In the past, Mongolians drank milk wine, didn't eat stir-fry and didn't guess boxing orders. Take a look at milk and sheep's hoof, chat while eating and drinking, and pull up Ma Touqin to sing a long folk song. It is really an elegant thing and a kind of enjoyment.
(3) Milk tea
Mongolian people are hospitable. When the guests came home, the table was set. There is a big plate of fried rice in the center of the table, surrounded by porcelain plates filled with butter, milk tofu, brown sugar and various cakes, and then steaming milk tea is served. If a guest is present, he will not give tea or "Tabuxi" (milk food, etc.). ), the host will be "flushed and uncomfortable", while the guests think that "tea is not tea, face is not face".
There are many kinds of milk tea. According to the literature, as early as 1300 years ago, there was "Zizyphus jujuba porridge" for health preservation, hemostasis and treatment of insomnia. There is "Galenza Noodle Tea" to improve eyesight and hearing; There are many kinds of milk tea, such as "Happy Baori Ma Tang", which can spread the lungs. Pan Yucha, Jinsi Tea and Xifan Tea are the best teas in the imperial palace of Mongolia. There are many plants that can be used to make tea in the Mongolian plateau, and milk tea is also made from local materials, each with its own advantages.
Milk tea has the functions of relieving fatigue, stimulating people's excitement, stimulating appetite, helping digestion, lowering blood pressure and preventing arteriosclerosis. Abaga tea, in addition to the above functions, can also treat diseases such as colds, and is an excellent tonic and drink.
(4) Meat food
Mongolian meat in pastoral areas is mainly sheep meat, goat meat and beef. In the past, antelope, roe deer, wild boar, hare and pheasant were rarely hunted as food in winter.
Herdsmen slaughter livestock seasonally. After the fifth month of the lunar calendar, when the water plants are abundant and the cattle and sheep are fat, they will be slaughtered, but they will not be slaughtered in large quantities. They can be slaughtered at any time when eating, so as to ensure daily meat. Usually don't kill cattle. In winter, before and after light snow, the weather is cold and easy to store. If the cattle and sheep are not thin, kill them once, and kill them all to meet the needs of winter and spring. Herdsmen kill sheep not by cutting off their heads, but by cutting a small mouth from the abdomen, reaching into the abdominal cavity and cutting off the spinal artery. This can ensure that the skin is clean and tidy and the body is complete. Traditional meat products mainly include:
Buhule, that is, whole cattle and whole sheep. It's rare to treat people with whole cattle. It has high specifications and great style, but it's not as delicious as mutton. Whole sheep, that is, the whole sheep's body, including washed heart, liver, lungs and stomach, is cooked and served. Goats should move their heads away from their seats.
Ebuchu, the whole chest of sheep and cattle, includes cervical vertebrae, thoracic vertebrae and fan bones on both sides.
Dara refers to the crotch of cattle and sheep.
Ugucha refers to the lower back of livestock. This is the most common meat food, commonly known as "hand-held meat".
The above foods are mainly cooked because they want to maintain the integrity of the whole and part. Its taste varies from place to place.
(5) Other diets
Mongolians mainly eat milk and meat, but they also sow seeds, so they also have the habit of eating rice noodles. For example, A Mu is a kind of rice porridge made of butter and dates.
Duhouba, a Tibetan, is thick porridge with meat and red grain.
Tugule soup can be translated into calf soup or cream soup.
Fried rice with millet can be divided into hard fried rice and crisp fried rice. The main processes are soaking, frying and grinding. Crispy fried rice can be eaten with milk tea and milk, or chewed with butter. Hard fried rice is used to make porridge and dry rice.
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Mongolian herders regard sheep as the guarantee of life and the source of wealth. Three meals a day, every meal is inseparable from milk and meat. Food made of milk is called "Chaganyide" in Mongolian, which means holy and pure food, that is, "free food"; Food made of meat is called "Ulan Yide" in Mongolian, which means "red food". In addition to the most common milk, Mongolians also eat goat's milk, horse's milk, deer's milk and camel milk, some of which are used as fresh milk drinks, and most of them are processed into dairy products. Such as: dried yogurt, milk tofu, milk skin, cream, thin cream, cream residue, cheese crisp, milk powder and so on. It can be eaten at dinner and is also a snack for all ages. Dairy products have always been regarded as excellent treasures. If there are visitors, they should be introduced first. If the child comes, he should also put milk skin or cream on his head to show his good wishes. Mongolian meat is mainly beef and mutton, followed by goat meat, camel meat and a small amount of horse meat, and yellow mutton is also hunted during the hunting season. There are more than 70 kinds of traditional ways to eat mutton, such as all-sheep banquet, tender-skinned all-sheep banquet, all-sheep banquet, roasted sheep, roasted sheep heart, fried sheep belly and stewed dishes with sheep brain. The most distinctive ones are Mongolian roasted whole sheep (peeled and roasted), oven roasted whole sheep with skin or Alashan roasted whole sheep, and the most common one is grasping sheep by hand. Mongolians pay attention to the clear cooking of mutton and eat it immediately after cooking, so as to keep the mutton fresh and tender, especially when cooking mutton, avoid overcooking it. The Mongolians in the Mongolian-Chinese mixed area in the east of Inner Mongolia also like to add seasonings to cook the meat into crispy mutton. In some areas, Mongolians also like to cut the meat on the waist of sheep into large pieces and then fry it in oil into a paste. Folk call it "Fried Sheep". Beef is mostly eaten in winter. All are beef banquets, and more are stewed, braised and made into soup; Camel meat and horse meat are also eaten, and fried hump slices are dipped in sugar, which is a dish. Experienced chefs are also good at cooking beef tendon, deer tendon, bullwhip and oxtail into various therapeutic dishes. For the convenience of preservation, beef and mutton are often made into dried meat and bacon. Fried rice is a unique Mongolian food, which occupies the same important position as red and white food in daily diet. Mongolians in the western region also have the custom of "bumping people" with fried rice. Add sheep oil, red dates, brown sugar and white sugar to make fried rice, mix well and knead into small pieces to serve as tea and rice. Steamed millet is mostly used to cook porridge with diced meat, and crushed noodles can be used to make pancakes; There are more and more foods made of flour in Mongolian daily diet, the most common ones are noodles and pancakes. They are good at making distinctive Mongolian buns, Mongolian pies and stuffed Mongolian cakes. Mongolians in Alashan and Erdos in the west also have the habit of making "Zhang Ru" with flour. The Zhelimu League in the east is rich in buckwheat, and the pancakes baked with buckwheat flour are a distinctive local food.