Time to tickle my palate in Bhutan

So much chillies in the vegetable market made me think that Bhutanese cuisine had to be spicy. The place where we stayed arranged a Bhutanese meal complete with Bhutanese attire for us to wear.

The 5 course candle light dinner was perfect. It was quite cold outside but the heaters closeby kept us warm. The ambience was perfect.

I am not a very adventurous eater so asked for small portions of everything.

We decided to go for a mocktail of coconut milk and pineapple. Yes, a pinacolada sans rum !

Momos are universal so  pork momos arrived with cucumber salad. The momos were soft and tasty. I had to add some chilli sauce to spice them up though.

Phaksha besum came next.  It was pork and beans. Not outstanding I would say.

The most important accompaniment to any dish, chilli sauce .......

Jaasha pa, which was thinly sliced radish and chicken. I could'nt taste the radish in it. The juices were so much absorbed by them. The chicken was tender and well cooked. Quite a tasty dish.

Now, the dish I had been waiting for and heard so much about. Ema datshi ( ema is chilli and datsche is cheese ) or the chilli-cheese. Here, additional asparagus was added. I had expected it to be flaming hot but it turned out to be very mellow. Traditionally, yak cheese or home made cow cheese is added but here they added Amul cheese. Whatever, the end result was too good. I refused to think about the calorie intake :)

This is nakey and you see plenty of it in market. This is a fern which grows in plenty in Bhutan.  It can either be made stir fried or in combination with cheese and chilli called Nakey datschi. Himanshu Kandpal, thanks for sending this picture.

This fern is a source of vitamins, iron in addition to antioxidants and omega-3.  We were served nakey without cheese.

Now stir fried greens with chilli was served.  It was not that great. All meals are served with red rice which is  a staple grain in Bhutan and a healthy choice instead of white rice.

To cater to our sweet tooth, creme caramel and chocolate mousse was served. Bhutanese usually do not have desserts, no doubt they don't put on weight ! We were leaving the next day, so it was such a nice gesture.....

Deepraj and Pema made the dinner possible

Not a part of this dinner but this drink is very important and is served at every home to any guests. It is also a warming tea/soup during the cold winters. Suja or the butter tea. Salted butter is added to hot water or milk. It is churned to make a homogenous thick drink. Somtimes crispy rice is added to the bowl.

The food on flight back home had kewa datschi with tomatoes ( potatoes with cheese and tomatoes). My husband asked for 3 more helpings of ema datschi which is chillies and cheese, see in a small foil dish. The dish, unlike last time, was flaming hot but was soooo yummm.

While, I write this, my mouth waters and feel the taste of this awesome food :)