There’s no better way to start this list of traditional Mongolian foods than with buuz, a popular meat-filled Mongolian dumpling. It’s a Mongolian national dish that’s typically consumed to celebrate the Lunar New Year (Tsagaan Sar).

In winter, the country comes under the influence of the Siberian High so fatty Mongolian foods like buuz help people get through its harsh winters. Recipes vary from cook to cook but the dumplings are usually made with a basic flour dough filled with a mixture of lamb, tail fat, and other ingredients like onions, victory onions, and caraway.

In Mongolia, you’ll find buuz in many forms. They get their names from how they’re folded and shaped like “flower buuz”, “sheep buzz”, or “lazy buuz”. As their names suggest, flower buuz resembles a flower while lazy buuz is the easiest and quickest to make.

To prepare, the flour dough is cut into pieces roughly the size of your palm. They’re rolled out flat and filled with the meat mixture before being folded and pinched shut. The dumplings are then steamed for about twenty minutes and consumed by hand.