Recipe

Asia🇲🇳 MongoliaUlaanbaatar
Suutei Tsai
Mongolian · easy · serves 4
prep 5 min · cook 12 min
~75 cal · 4g protein · 6g carbs · 4g fat (estimated, per serving)
🍽️
Bowl of pale savory milk tea
🇲🇳 Ulaanbaatar
Suutei tsai is the everyday milk tea of Mongolia, and it is salty, not sweet. Green tea from a pressed brick is boiled with milk and a pinch of salt — sometimes fat or millet too — into a warming, nourishing drink that sustains herders through the bitter cold of the steppe and welcomes every guest to the ger.
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Ingredients
Serves 4
2 tbsp green tea (brick or loose)
2 cups water
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
1
Boil the water and add the green tea, simmering a few minutes to make a strong brew.
2
Pour in the milk and bring back to a gentle boil, ladling it up and back to aerate.
3
Add the salt to taste — it should be savory, not sweet.
4
Strain into bowls and serve piping hot.
Mongolian steppe tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Ulaanbaatar. The world’s coldest capital, warmed by fried noodles.
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Mongolia. Steppe cooking: meat, flour, fire, and not much else needed.
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Asia. From street-cart woks to slow monastery kitchens.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩‍🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
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