Are you a foodie who enjoys experimenting with different foods from around the world? Well! Bhutan extends its heartfelt greetings. Come try our one-of-a-kind and scrumptious cuisines, which we are convinced will provide you with a memorable experience with our travel agent Norbu Bhutan travel. Bhutan, like any other country, has some incredible food to share with the rest of the world.
Bhutanese people like spicy food, and most of the country’s famous dishes are regarded as spicy by outsiders. They find Bhutan’s famous food to be not just spicy but also much better than imagined, and even visitors who aren’t fans of spicy food couldn’t resist eating more. Take a look at the top 3 famous foods in Bhutan that you should not miss in 2022.
#1. Ema Datshi(Chili and Cheese)
Ema datshi is a popular Bhutanese dish that is cooked in almost every Bhutanese home. On every occasion, you will see a variety of foods eaten with rice on your table, and ema datshi will be an option as well. Because ema and datshi are the local names for chili and cheese, the essential ingredients for cooking ema datshi are chili and local cheese. Garlic, oil, onion, and tomato are also required ingredients. Most Bhutanese eat these dishes as they would any other, but tourists must run for water.
Ema Datshi Recipe, Bhutan’s Most Famous Dish
Ema datshi, Bhutan’s national dish, is simple to prepare because it uses few ingredients.
- To begin, heat the pan and add the butter or other edible oil.
- Add the cut onion, tomatoes, and chili when the butter has melted.
- Fill the pan halfway with water, depending on how much gravy you want, and close the top.
- After a few minutes, when the peppers are soft, add the cheese.
- Turn off the heat and evenly distribute the local cheese.
#2. Kewa Datshi(Potato and Cheese)
You must be aware that cheese is inextricably linked to Bhutanese cuisine. Nonetheless, there is one vegetable that Bhutanese people enjoy and cook the majority of the time, and that is potato, also known locally as kewa.
Potatoes have been our main vegetable since George Bogle, a Scottish adventurer and diplomat, gave them to Bhutanese people in 1775 and became famous in Bhutan market as well. Kewa datshi is a popular Bhutanese dish that is particularly popular among Bhutanese youngsters. For outsiders, a true kewa datshi is fiery, but the flavor is also irresistible. If you can’t eat spicy cuisine, you can make the dish less spicy by using less chilis.
Kewa Datshi Recipe
- Heat two spoons of oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Continue to mix in the chili peppers and garlic until the chili turns golden.
- Add the onion and stir regularly until it becomes translucent.
- Mix in the chopped potatoes with the remaining ingredients in the pot.
- Pour a generous amount of water into a pan large enough to cover your potato and season with chili powder and salt.
- Cook until the potatoes are tender, adding more water as needed to keep the gravy thick.
- Finally, sprinkle with cheese. After it has melted, distribute it evenly.
#3. Shakam Datshi(Dry beef and Cheese)
Bhutanese people adore cheesy cuisine. Cheese can be found in practically every dish we cook, including shakam Datshi. Shakam Datshi is a popular dish in Bhutan that is similar to ema datshi in that both are cheesy, created with the same ingredient, and served with rice. The only difference is that in shakam datshi, there is dried beef called locally as shakam. This beef-cooking style distinguishes it from Ema Datshi. To prepare shakam, residents here chop the beef into 10-inch pieces and dry it for more than a month.
Shakam Datshi Recipe
- To make this popular Bhutanese dish, Rinse the chopped beef, then place it in a pressure cooker with 200 mL of water, oil, and salt. It should be cooked for 15 minutes.
- Pour in 100 mL of water, followed by the dry red chilies, garlic, tomato, onion, and cheese.
- Cook for another 5 minutes with the lid on.
- Reduce the heat to low and swirl gently to thoroughly combine the cheese.
- Shakam datshi is eaten with red rice, another popular Bhutanese dish. However, as times have changed, people have begun to enjoy this dish with white rice as well.
Bhutan boasts a variety of notable foods that you should not miss out on when you travel to Bhutan, or you will be sorry.
Almost every popular Bhutanese dish is spicy and delicious, and visitors enjoy eating it. You should be aware that the majority of the dishes described above, such as ema datshi, shakam datshi, phaksha paa, kewa datshi, goen ho gaya, and lom, are eaten with rice. If you wanna explore more than just food our finest travel agent Norbu Bhutan will let you enjoy and explore other places to see in Bhutan.