Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Khailmag (Caramelized Clotted Cream)
A rich Mongolian dessert of urum, clotted cream, cooked down slowly with sugar and a little flour into a thick, caramel-toned pudding eaten warm with a spoon.
Mongolian · easy · serves 4
prep 5 min · cook 20 min
~494 cal · 3g protein · 25g carbs · 43g fat · 0g fiber · 21g sugars · 28g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Khailmag is a Mongolian sweet made from urum, the thick clotted cream lifted off scalded milk in the ger, cooked down until its own fat begins to separate.
Sugar and a little flour are stirred in and the cream is worked over the heat until it thickens into a heavy, caramel-colored pap, richer and rougher than a custard, sometimes studded with raisins.
The clear fat that out, shar tos, is scooped away for other uses, and what remains is spooned warm into a bowl, a dense taste of the Mongolian dairy year at its most indulgent.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 cups urum (Mongolian clotted cream)
Hard to find? mascarpone or thick clotted cream - neither renders quite as much fat as urum, so cook it a little more gently
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp (optional) raisins
Instructions
1
Warm the urum in a wide, heavy pan over medium heat, stirring, until it loosens and its fat begins to separate, about 10 minutes.
2
If you like, spoon off some of the clear rendered fat that pools at the edges.
3
Stir in the sugar and flour and keep cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and turns a pale caramel color.
4
Fold in the raisins and cook another minute so they soften and swell.
5
Spoon the khailmag warm into small bowls and eat with a spoon.
Mongolian dairy tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Ulaanbaatar. Buuz get counted in the hundreds. Families fold them in batches ahead of Tsagaan Sar, the lunar new year, and set them outside where the weather does a freezer's work, then steam them for every guest through the holiday beside a built-up tower of fried biscuits.
🗺️
Mongolia. Mongolian cuisine is shaped by nomadic life on the steppe, mutton, dairy, and dough dominate, from steamed buuz dumplings to hearty noodle stews. Milk teas, dried curds, and whole-animal cooking reflect a herding heritage.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Mongolia
Khuushuur (Fried Meat Pastry)Crisp deep-fried half-moon pastries filled with minced mutton, onion, and garlic, the taste of the Naadam festival.
TsuivanSteppe-style fried noodles steamed over a mutton and vegetable braise, Mongolia’s one-pan answer to a cold night.
BoortsogSimple fried dough biscuits eaten with milky, lightly salted tea across the Mongolian steppe.
Browse all Mongolia recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Mongolia meal
Guriltai Shul (Mutton Noodle Soup)Dinner
Suutei TsaiDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Khailmag (Caramelized Clotted Cream)?
A rich Mongolian dessert of urum, clotted cream, cooked down slowly with sugar and a little flour into a thick, caramel-toned pudding eaten warm with a spoon.
Where does Khailmag (Caramelized Clotted Cream) come from?
Khailmag (Caramelized Clotted Cream) is a Mongolian dish from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Can Khailmag (Caramelized Clotted Cream) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Khailmag (Caramelized Clotted Cream) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Khailmag (Caramelized Clotted Cream) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Khailmag (Caramelized Clotted Cream) take to make?
About 25 minutes total (5 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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