Week 39: Mongolia

Week 39: Mongols - nomads by nature

There are many things you really do not need to know about me. One is that I love to whistle. I simply cannot help myself. Whether I am cooking or gardening or driving, it just happens. My mother always reminded me that a lady does not whistle, but in Mongolia they are not that gender specific - whistling indoors is completely taboo as they believe it will attract and provoke evil spirits. Mongols also believe that if you accidently step on someone's foot, you should immediately shake their hand or you will be enemies for life. And if they see a shooting star, it means someone is going to die. Talk about glass half empty!


There were no empty glasses last night, though. Albeit that our visit to Sizzling Mongolian BBQ can not be classified as truly authentic Mongolian cuisine, we had a fabulous Friday night out. No horsemeat, camel, yak or marmot featured on the menu, nor was our food cooked by removing the intestines of the animal and stuffing it (skin on) with hot stones to cook from the inside out (a cooking style called boodog). We did not have to drink Airag (fermented horse milk) or snack on Aarul (dried milk curds....apparently it never goes off, is extremely rich in calcium and the reason why Mongols have such strong, healthy teeth). Also missing from the menu was Buuz - a steamed dumpling served in soup. If you are a vegetarian, maybe Mongolia is not the place to visit. Their cuisine has a thousand year history, and reflects the intrinsic nomadic lifestyle of the people. They eat their domesticated animals that travel with them (goat, sheep, camel, horse), drink their milk and use their fat. During hunting season, Yak and Marmot cooked boodog-style is very popular (according to some foreigners, marmot cooked the hot-stone-way tastes like wild duck.....we have to trust them on that). 


Traditionally, Mongols will never eat alone. Mealtime acts as a punctuation mark during the day. The tribe gathers around the fire while they nourish their weary bodies. They also pass around the stones that have been removed from the inside of the animal - hot and greasy - and rub them between their hands. This has proven over the years to eliminate fatigue and boost stamina.  Unfortunately, we did not have any hot stones to pass around either. But our weary bodies were nourished by the fresh and healthy array of meat and vegetables available to combine in any which way, flavoured to taste by a variety of sauces and oils and then cooked in front of us by a skilled chef on a huge, round stir-fry plate. For my first round, I combined chicken, bok choy, sprouts and finely grated carrots. This I seasoned with sesame oil, a hint of garlic, some lemon water and soy sauce. After my bowl filled with ingredients was masterfully fried by the chef, I added some fresh chillies and a drop of oyster sauce. It was delicious. Round two, I decided to take some pork, spring onions, capsicum, shredded cabbage and pineapple (Boetie noted it resembled a pizza topping), which I flavoured with chilli oil, coriander water, sugar water, lemon water and soy sauce. After frying , I drizzled some sweet and sour sauce over the top, and crowned my creation with a handful of sprouts. Yum! Everyone created their own masterpiece, and experimented with different flavour combinations. Keith managed to add too much chilli, and at one stage struggled for air (which reminded us of the SHU scale - see Jamaica blog week 8). Martina stuck to the vegetables (very un-Mongolian!) and I think Phil combined a bit of every sauce on offer. The boys had fun stacking their bowls and dousing it with sauce, not quite knowing what the outcome would taste like.  Far removed from the Gobi Desert and the vast Steppes of Mongolia, we thoroughly enjoyed the Western, First World take on Mongolian open fire eating.


Eager to share our facts (see Friday Night Out rules re facts blog week 1), Boetie started with a lengthy analysis of the complex elements on the flag. We all guessed the national animal correctly: what else but the horse. There is a traditional saying that "A Mongol without a horse is like a Bird without the wings".  The breed, similar to the Prewalski, is purported to be unchanged since the time of Genghis Kahn  (1162-1227) or Chinggis Khan as he is known in Mongolia. This fact opened the door for Keith to give us a detailed history on the life of the Great Khan. He came to power by uniting most of the North Asian nomadic tribes. In 25 years he conquered a larger area than the Romans did in 4 centuries. To the millions of people Genghis Khan and his horsemen overpowered he was evil incarnate, but to the Mongol people he is, to this day, a revered hero.


This fact is very evident when one visits Mongolia. One would fly into Ulaanbaatar, the capital, land at Chinggis Khan Airport, drive down Chinggis Khan Avenue, change money at Chinggis Khan bank and receive notes with Chinggis Khan's face on every bill from one hundred to ten thousand tögrögs. And of course, one might stay at Chinggis Khan Hotel, attend Chinggis Khan University, and imbibe either Chinggis Khan beer or one of the several fine varieties of Chinggis Khan vodka.  Hendo ( a friend of Boetie's) arrived fully prepared, and spelled out the geographical challenges of the country. With summer heat hovering around 30 degrees, and winter temperatures plummeting to -30 degrees, the average temperature in the capital is zero. Martina's told us about the incredibly efficient postal service called Yam ( or Ortoo, meaning checkpoint). Even Marco Polo was in awe of the size and reliability of Yam. The over 2,000 checkpoints, about 65 kilometres apart were kept constantly staffed, and messengers had over 50,000 horses at their disposal. And Phil informed us on the medical condition called The Mongolian Blue Spot. First identified on Mongolian babies, these spots are flat, blue, or blue-gray skin markings near the buttocks that appear at birth or shortly thereafter. Often mistaken as bruising (and abuse), these conglomerated pigment markings almost certainly disappear as the child reaches puberty. And lastly - I have to get another whistling fact in: The Mongol Warriors used a small, sturdy composite bow, that had twice the range of the English longbow. They used several types of arrows, but the most famous was the whistle arrow - a hollow arrow that made a loud whistling sound as it travelled through the air, mostly used as signals for the troops, as verbal commands were hard to hear during charge.


Next week, we'll refrain from whistling and rather turn to yodelling....see you in Switzerland.


       Genghis Khan