This Month’s Film: YiYi
Cuisine: Taiwanese

As part of a food writing project, I received a shipment of yak meat from DelYaks of Montrose, Colorado. The package included a pound of ground yak, of which I used a half pound to make a filling for Mongolian Buuz Dumplings, also called momo, or more commonly known as potstickers.

The filling recipe is simple, containing only the ground yak, a couple of finely chopped scallions, a couple of cloves of finely minced garlic, a cup of finely shredded cabbage, and a dash of soy sauce. The difference with using ground yak instead of beef, pork, or lamb, is that yak is finer and firmer in texture, so it holds together in compact spoonfuls, which made assembly so easy.

To prepare the Buuz, I filled each little round wonton wrapper with about a teaspoonful of the filling, moistened the edges with water, and pressed them together for a tight seal. Then I put the dumplings into a non-stick pan with a little vegetable oil and fried them over medium heat until the bottoms were crisp and golden. I added about 1/4 cup of water to the pan, covered it with a domed lid, and steamed them for about 7 minutes. I served the dumplings with a dipping sauce of rice vinegar, soy sauce, and chili oil.

I’m just getting the hang of making potstickers, and maybe it’s the yak, but this was the best batch yet. The wonderful thing about ground yak is its remarkable lack of fat. So I was able to fill the dumplings nice and tight, with no loss of volume and no sogginess due to fat run-off during the cooking process. The dumplings were as plump coming out of the pan as they were going in.

The flavor of the yak is perfect with the seasonings I chose. I’d originally thought about including shredded ginger root as well, but in the end, I decided to keep it simple, using only those ingredients that would enhance without dominating. Yak has a subtle, beef-like flavor that can easily be lost by over-spicing and overcooking. So the garlic and scallions in the filling, and the spicy-but-simple dipping sauce are all it needs to let it shine.

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