Cooking in Mongolia

So, before going to Mongolia, there were 2 consistent remarks told to me from everyone.

1) There are no chinese herbs found in Mongolia. So bring what you need from Malaysia.
2) You won't be able to find fish.

So, yea, I packed my chinese herbs and packs and packs of anchovies - in original form, powder form and pickle form.

If you're chinese and from Malaysia, chances are you will love your herbal soups and noddle soup with anchovy based stock, so the first thing to put in your luggage would be these.

Most of the other chinese sauces you will need can be found here, but either imported from China or Korea. So the usual dark soya sauce and light soya sauces will taste slightly off. They DO NOT in my 3 years here carry vegetarian mushroom sauce, a replacement of oyster sauce. You will be able to find red and green and mung beans once in a while.

AND the most important thing to note is IF YOU SEE something that you want or need, but 3-4 of it. Because once it's sold out, it may take some months before it is restocked again.

There are more and more spices and herbs found now. You can cook up curry with the spices available. And there are loads of western spices - rosemary and basil and dill etc.

What is found in great abundance and quality here is flour and cheese. You will get a wide range of cheese and different types of flour for all kinds of needs. Once in a while I see potato starch and corn flour, glutinous rice flour and normal rice flour. Kind of every base you will need if you crave the Nyonya kuihs.

But I have never seen glutinous rice itself and definitely NOT pandan (screwpine) essence or leaves.
Desiccated coconut can be found - also when they bring it in - and the Mongolians don't use it often so what they bring in lasts some time.

MEAT of all kinds is available - usually in BIG CHUNKS - unless you go to the more 'refined' shops where you get them in smaller cuts but the price of course differs. Once in a while I get these huge chunks of pork cuts and throw them in the pressure cooker or the oven. Rub on some fresh rosemary or dried, some spices and it's as good as it gets.

Potatoes (of all kinds) and carrots I would say are so sweet here. I heard the reason for this is because the land can only be used for a couple of months each year and so during the long winter months, the land has time to replenish itself.

FISH you can get - although imported - from Korea and of late Vietnam. Good enough for a spicy or even stewed fish dish and even a simple steam if you don't mind the fish fat turning to jello in the steaming plate. Mackerel from Korea can be found too and good for a grill or any korean way of cooking. You can even get frozen prawns once in a while and fish fingers which well, does hold the texture of fish.

There are only 2 kinds of green vegetables suitable for chinese-style cooking. Mainly - siew pak choy and spinach. There are other greens that you can find like the occasional, hunt high and low kangkung and some cabbage/lettuce family greens which works for the garlic and oil quick stir fry. Otherwise it's white leaf vegetables - and by that I mean chinese cabbage and napa cabbage. Of course the next best favorite would be broccoli and cauliflower. But anything root or tuber like, chances are you will find it in Mongolia.

FRUITS cost a bomb mainly because they are all imported. But close an eye to the cost and you can get your variety, going out of your fruit budget maybe once a month.

All in all, if you are alright with Korean food, you will be alright in fact enjoy Mongolia.