Tsuivan
is one of our favorite foods here in Mongolia. It is a noodle dish that includes onion (leek in the video), vegetables and meat. I have had several people here in Mongolia tell me how to make tsuivan, and I’ll share a recipe below, but first, I want to share this fun video of a ger family making tsuivan.
Ingredients
- 1 pkg uncooked tortillas (from Costco) or make your own flour noodles
- Your choice of meat: beef, mutton, camel or horse (we have never seen chicken or pork used here in Mongolia, unless we are eating at a Korean or Chinese restaurant.)
- Potatoes, carrots, green peppers, yellow peppers and red peppers
- Garlic cloves
- Yellow onion or leek
- Soy sauce, salt, pepper and sugar
- Spread a thin layer of oil between sheets of tortillas and then slice into long thin strips
- Set aside
- Cut a medium onion in half, place halves face down and cut from top to bottom (making long thin onion slices), or use a leek and julienne it.
- Cook onion in a large frying pan (that has a lid) with a couple of tsp. of oil
- Add chopped garlic
- Julienne potatoes, carrots, green pepper, yellow pepper and red pepper
- Put vegetables and sliced meat into the frying pan and cook until the veggies are soft and the meat is cooked
- Add your choice of broth or water until vegetables are covered
- Add 1-2 tsp. of soy sauce (this is not Chinese food!), salt and pepper to taste (tsuivan is typically pretty peppery) and a tsp of sugar
- Place the noodles on top of broth (but they should not be submersed)
- Immediately place a tight lid on top of pan so that the broth will steam the noodles
- When the noodles look done, mix in the meat, broth and veggies into the noodles and serve