Bantan
Mongolia's flour-and-mutton broth: simmering mutton stock with pinches of raw flour rubbed into pea-sized pearls. The cure for a hungover adult.
Overview
A small quantity of minced mutton and diced onion fries gently in fat. Mutton stock (or water) goes in; the broth simmers for 10 minutes. Plain flour is rubbed with a few drops of water between the palms to make tiny crumb-sized lumps; these scatter into the simmering broth, where they cook for 5 minutes into soft pearls. Salt and pepper to season. A scatter of fresh dill or spring onion finishes the bowl.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or mutton fat)
- 150 g minced mutton (or beef)
- 1 onion (small, finely diced)
- 1 ½ litres mutton stock (or water with 1 stock cube)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 150 g plain flour
- 2-3 tablespoons cold water (to form the flour pearls)
- 1 spring onion (finely sliced) or 1 tablespoon fresh dill
Method
Stage 1 - Fry
- Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium heat.
- Add the mince and onion; fry 5 minutes, breaking up the meat, until the onion is soft and the meat is just cooked.
Stage 2 - Broth
- Pour in the stock; bring to a simmer.
- Add salt and pepper.
- Simmer 8 minutes to develop the flavour.
Stage 3 - Flour pearls
- Place the flour in a wide shallow bowl.
- Drizzle 2 tablespoons of cold water across the flour.
- Rub the flour and water together between your palms - the flour clumps into pea-sized crumbs.
- Sieve the crumbs gently to remove any loose flour (the loose flour is fine but the crumbs are the point).
Stage 4 - Cook the pearls
- Drop the flour-pearls into the gently simmering broth a handful at a time, stirring as you go to keep them separate.
- Simmer 5 minutes until the pearls are cooked through and slightly swollen.
Stage 5 - Serve
- Taste; adjust salt.
- Ladle into bowls; scatter spring onion or dill.
Notes
- Rub, don't measure: The flour pearls form by friction - the water moistens, the rubbing aggregates. Too much water and you get dough; too little and you get loose flour. The right consistency is "couscous-like crumbs".
- Stir as you drop: If you add the pearls in a lump they'll fuse. Sprinkle as you stir.
- Mild and salty: Bantan is plain on purpose. Don't add chilli, garlic or fancy herbs - that's not the dish.
Storage
- Best fresh. Refrigerate 2 days; reheat gently with extra stock (the pearls absorb liquid as they sit).
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