Bhutanese Cuisine
A way to someone's heart is through his stomach. May be its true considering how important food is
in our daily life as a nutrition and when taken for pleasure. Food is an important item during festivals
and rituals in Bhutan. Every alter in a Bhutanese home has some form of food offered to the Gods.
Every year during annual ritual (Several monks read scriptures to ward away the evil spirit and bad
omen) families in the villages spend thousands (minimum US$700, this is huge money compared
by Bhutanese standards as most people in the villages earn about US$4 a day) on food.
Whenever visiting a relative or an acquaintance away from home rice( grain) and puffed rice is a
preferred gift.
Most of the Bhutanese food item (especially curry) are quite greasy and spicy but appetising
|
Bhutanese vegetable food items
|
Ema Datshi (chilly and cheese)
Recipe:
Chilly 250 gms
Cheese 100 gms
salt 11/2 tspn
onion 1 bulb chopped (50 gms)
garlic 50 gms (smashed)
Vegetable Oil 1 tbs
spring onion 1 leaf (cut to about 2 inch long)
tomatoes 2 pcs cut
coriander 2 leaves
Direction:
Pour about 300 ml of water in a pan. Put in the Chillies (There are three kinds of chillies available
Suu Kam, dry red chillies and green chillies) add salt and vegetable oil let it boil for about 10
minutes. Then add garlic, onion, tomatoes and let it cook for another 3 minutes. Add cheese and
spring onion and let it cook for another 2 minutes. Finally turn off the heat and add coriander leaves
and leave it covered till you serve it hot.
From the three kinds of Chillies, Ema Suu Kam is the mildest (for Bhutanese). Ema Suu is prepared
by immersing green chillies in hot water for about a minute and then by drying it in the sun.
|
Samu - Datshi (Mushroom and Cheese)
Recipe;
Mushroom 250gms
Cheese 70gms
Chilly 70gms
onion 2 pcs
ginger 20gms
garlic 40gms
tomato 2pcs
coriander 3 leaves
Vegetable oil 1 tbs
salt 11/2
Direction:
Pour about 300 ml of water in a pan and boil it. Put in washed mushroom( fresh mushroom is better
but canned mushroom is nice too). Add smashed ginger, vegetable oil and garlic paste. Add chilly
and onion together and let it cook for about 10 minutes. Then add tomatoes and cheese and let it
cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and add coriander leaves before serving.
Serves : 4 people
Kewa- Datshi (potato -Cheese)
Potatoes 5 pcs
cheese 100gms
chilly(green prefered) 100gms (depends, you can even use lesser amount or just prepare without
chillies)
onion 1pcs
veg oil 1 tbs
ginger 20gms(paste)
garlic 20gms(you can make paste by smashing it)
salt 1 1/2 tps
Directions;
Chop peeled potatoes, the size of the chop can be of ones thumb size. Put the chopped potatoes in
a pan and pour enough water to cover the potatoes. Cook till the potatoes are fully cooked. Then add
all the other ingredients together and cook for another five minutes. For better result add some corn
flour to give a thicker better texture.
Serves 4 people
Nya ka Chu Tshem ( Asparagus curry)
Ingredients:
Asparagus 1 bunch (chopped to size)
onion 1/2 pc
ginger 20gms (paste)
garlic 20gms (paste)
tomatoes 2 pcs (chopped)
vegetable oil 1 table spoon
salt 1 1/2 tea spoon
Cheese 100 gms
Directions:
Put all the ingredients in a pan pour about a cup of water and let it for 7 minutes. Don't over cook or
asparagus will loose its flavour.
serves 5-6 people
Non-Veg Item
Sii-Kam Paa
|
|