Banshtai tsai marries two staples of the Mongolian winter — small boiled bansh dumplings cooked right in the salty milk tea (suutei tsai). Heartier versions add lamb ribs, tail fat, fried millet or even dried meat. Hot, savoury and filling, it is nomad cold-season comfort in a single bowl, and together with bortstoi tsai (the version with dried meat) it has been inscribed on UNESCO's list of traditional food recipes.
Soft little dumplings burst with juicy mutton against a backdrop of warm, milky, gently salted tea. It is soothing and savory, like dumpling soup made with tea instead of broth, perfect against the cold.
Boiling the dumplings directly in the milk tea seasons them and enriches the tea with rendered fat and meat juices, fusing the two into one dish. The small size means the thin dumplings cook through quickly and stay tender.
Variations
Beef filling, plain bansh served separately from the tea, or a richer brew with extra tail fat.
On the Palate
Where Banshtai Tsai sits in the Mongolian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 40 min
- 18 min
Mix flour, water and salt into a smooth dough and rest it briefly.
- 25 min
Combine minced mutton with grated onion, salt and a little water for the filling.
- 36 min
Roll the dough thin and cut into small rounds.
- 410 min
Place a little filling on each round and pinch into tiny half-moon or pouch dumplings.
Watch outPinch the seams tight and shut — any gap and the filling juices leak into the tea while they boil.
- 58 min
Bring water, milk, a brick of tea and salt to a simmer to make süütei tsai.
- 61 min
Drop the bansh into the simmering milk tea.
Watch outDrop them into tea that's just trembling, not rolling — a hard boil knocks the thin dumplings open.
- 76 min
Cook until the dumplings float and the filling is done.
Watch outThey're done once they bob to the surface and the skins look translucent — the small size means it happens fast.
- 82 min
Ladle dumplings and tea together into bowls and serve piping hot.
