#38 Bhutan
- Jen
- Jun 23, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 4, 2022
The tiny Kingdom of Bhutan hides away quietly between Tibet and the Assam-Bengal Plain of India, separated from Tibet by the majestic peaks of the Himalayas.
Bhutan existed in isolation until the 1960s when it opened its borders to the outside world. The allure of the mountain monasteries, fluttering prayer flags, snow leopards and unclimbed Himalayan peaks to throngs of tourists could easily despoil the striking natural beauty and the peaceful way of life but the Bhutanese government preserve the country and culture by placing restrictions on visiting for leisure. For instance, you can only visit Bhutan as part of an official tour group, and these don’t come cheap. Hence the gap year masses ‘find themselves’ in Nepal instead.
Bhutan is a predominantly Buddhist nation and Buddhism is described in the constitution as the “spiritual heritage” of the country. In 1972, the 4th King of Bhutan proclaimed, “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product”. This concept places physical and spiritual wellbeing of citizens and the environment as pillars of development. It’s about equitable social development, conservation and cultural preservation.
The upshot of this is that Bhutan is carbon-neutral, and it’s written into law that 60% of the country’s land must remain forested (the actual figure forested is 70%). There are no traffic lights in the entire country. It is illegal to smoke tobacco. Traditional dress is worn. Hunting and fishing are illegal. The world could learn a lot from this beautiful place…and Bhutan could perhaps learn some traffic management from the rest of the world.
In stark contrast to the slow, peaceful way of life in Bhutan is the food. In Bhutan, chilli peppers are not considered a spice but a vegetable. No Bhutanese home cook worth their salt would prepare a meal without an eyewatering and mouth-burning amount of chilli. This is such an important part of daily life that peptic ulcers are a concerningly high cause of death amongst the population. A common school of thought is that the warm sensation from eating hot chillies has helped inhabitants survive cold winters, at least mentally anyway. Humans are the only species to enjoy the pain/pleasure/pain of chillies; nobody is born enjoying their head being blown off and so chillies are an important part of the weening process for infants in Bhutan.
To counter the hot chilli peppers, there’s a lot of cheese and dairy in a Bhutanese diet, mostly from yaks’ milk.
Breakfast might be scrambled eggs with generous amounts of cheese melted in and of course, a lovely cup of tea or suja. Instead of milk and sugar, suja is mixed with butter and salt. I feel that the Scots would be on board with this what with their peculiar porridge habits.
Lunch and dinner typically take the same format and consist of a bowl of red rice, which is a little like brown rice, with a selection of small dishes. Ezay, a dip made from chillies, is considered to be an appropriate condiment for every dish.
Indisputably the national dish is ema datshi. Ema means chilli and datshi means cheese and the dish is chillies cooked with a cheese sauce. This will almost always be one of the dishes served at lunch or dinner. Datshi is a fresh cheese, formed from yak’s milk curds and either eaten straight away or left for a few days to age.
Many other dishes are variations on a similar theme. For instance, kewa means potato and shamu means mushroom, so kewa datshi and shamu datshi are either potato or mushroom with a cheese sauce. Despite not featuring in the title of these dishes, there will also be a few ema included.
Momos are dumplings, eaten all over the Himalayan region, filled with meat, cheese or vegetables and can be steamed or fried. They can be one of the lunch or dinner dishes or a street food snack.
Another interesting snack is chhurpi is dried yak’s cheese, a bit like a cheese jerky. And speaking of snacks requiring plenty of mastication, dried yak’s meat is another good one.
Ema datshi
For ema datshi in south Wales, where yak’s milk cheeses are scarce, any cheese that will melt nicely into the sauce will do. A good melter should have a high moisture and fat content. The age of the cheese also impacts how it melts: younger cheese tends to melt smoothly whereas aged cheeses clump and split when they melt (which is why your vintage cheddar cheese on toast can be greasy). I don’t make a habit of buying mild or medium cheddar, because it’s pathetic, but it was just the tool for the job on this occasion.
I made my ema datshi with onion, red pepper, green chilli, garlic and mushrooms. The sauce consists of vegetable stock and diced tomatoes, and of course the cheese! As well as the cheddar, I also stirred in some Philly to ensure a creamy sauce.
Although not traditionally included in this dish, the spongy texture of the mushrooms was a perfect partner for the loose cheesy sauce. This was a thoroughly enjoyable dish*. Fresh veg, cheesy sauce, just so comforting!
*I owe much of this enjoyment to the fact I de-seeded the chillise. I therefore avoided the eyewatering and the sweating that would be all part of the experience eating this in Bhutan!
I served this dish in the traditional manner on a wooden (bamboo) plate with brown rice and tingmos.
Tingmo is a portmanteau word (a word made from blending two words). In Tibetan, tingba is cloud and momo is dumpling. These cloud-dumplings are of Tibetan origin but very much a part of Bhutanese life. They are steamed yeasted bread made by forming a shape from strips of dough. They’re light, fluffy and the layers open apart delightfully. Perfect eaten straight away to mop up cheesy chilli sauce, and great as leftovers for breakfast: sliced, fried in butter, and served with a big dollop of jam. Any excuse for jam!
It’s CANADA next!
تعليقات