Virtual Vacation: Bhutanese Chiles 'n Cheese

In the spring of 1998, when we were living in Shanghai, Dave and I spent two weeks in Bhutan. It was a splurge, meant to be our "last hurrah" in Asia before we returned to the US later in the year for good (or so we thought at the time).

Travelling by car along Bhutan's one road, we gawped at the magnificent, nearly untouched mountain landscape

dotted with majestic dzong (half administrative buildings-half monasteries).

We caught a few archery matches (it's the national sport),

met plenty of friendly locals,

noticed, after three or four days, that most of the country's traditional stone and wood houses are decorated with a phallus or two,

and marvelled that in this world there still existed a place that kept beat to such a leisurely rhythm.

In Bumthang, a Wild West sort of town set deep in an impossibly green, fertile valley, we joined Bhutanese villagers who journeyed for miles, mostly on foot and dressed in their finest clothes,

for a spectacular three-day Tibetan Buddhist festival. After two days of music and dances, performed by monks resident at the hilltop dzong where it was held,

the festival culminated in a feverishly emotional mass blessing in which attendees were fed pieces of dough representing a demon who, on the festival's second day, had been vanquished and killed by the gods.

What we did not do in Bhutan, unfortunately, was find a whole lot of deliciousness. Most towns didn't have restaurants, so we were obliged to take meals in our hotel with other tourists. Always served buffet-style (a particular dislike of mine), lunches and dinners generally consisted of the sort of food Bhutanese tourism officials must have imagined foreigners preferred to eat: bland, overcooked, and often pseudo-Chinese.

There were a few bright spots. After pestering our guide (required for all tourists at the time, and probably still) for seven days straight we finally scored a breakfast not of fluffy, tasteless toast and greasy scrambled eggs, but of Bhutanese red rice porridge - thick and creamy like congee, but flavored with savory smoked pork hock, zippy dried red chilies, and numbing ground Sichuan peppercorn. In Bumthang, we found local, freshly made apple cider, a wonderfully hoppy and refreshing microbrew, and - thanks to the presence of a Swiss-owned dairy farm - richly milky tomato and cheese tarts.

On our third night we tried ema daji, a Bhutanese dish of plump green jalapeno-like chiles in a thin cheese sauce. Fantastically fiery chili heat balanced by creamy, mild-flavored cheese - just the sort of flavorful, highly spiced break we needed from gloppy hot and sour pork and stir-fried mystery meat with cashews. We spooned it up with nutty Bhutanese red rice that night, and the next, when it showed up again on the buffet table. And then the next several nights as well ... until we were so sick of the darned stuff just the sight of it could turn our stomachs.

By the time we left Bhutan ema daji was a bad dream, a black spot on our otherwise wonderful trip to Bhutan. I buried it deep in my subconscious where it slept soundly ... until Reid at Ono Kine Grindz and Alan at maona announced a Virtual Vacation one-off MeMe.

When I read the assignment - to share the recipe for a dish sampled on holiday - ema daji popped into my head. Wondering if eight years had cured me of my phobia I cooked up a batch, and found it to be - as scrumptious as the first time I tasted it. Many thanks to Reid and Alan for inspiring me to reinvestigate this altogether ambrosial dish. The single smear on my memories of Bhutan is wiped clean.

UPDATE, February 22: I won! I do believe it's the first time I've won anything in my life. My prize? A boxload of edible Hawaiian swag. I'll be blogging it.

Ema Daji (Bhutanese Chiles 'n Cheese)

This recipe is adapted from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's "Mangoes & Curry Leaves" . They call it "Chile-Hot Bhutanese Cheese Curry" and include tomatoes, which I've omittted, because I never encountered them in the versions of the dish I sampled (or the ones I avoided) in Bhutan. Ema daji is all about fire (the chiles) and fire extinguisher (the dairy). I could swear the chiles used in Bhutan are jalapenos or a variation thereof, but you can use any kind you like. Go ahead and tone down the heat with a milder chile if you must, but do use a flavorful one (no plain green bell peppers!). If your fresh chiles aren't spicy enough, add cayenne with the cheese.

Outside of big towns where fresh, mild cheese can be bought at the market, Bhutanese cooks used Indian canned cheese. Alford and Duguid suggest feta and I found it to be an excellent substitute; the brining lends the finished product a sort of gamey aroma which seems right. Other possibilities are farmer's cheese, a Mexican cheese like queso fresco, or haloumi, if it's not too salty. Don't go the route of cheddar - the cheese should be mild enough that the taste of the chilies comes through.

The final result, which is soupy, is best served warm rather than hot, with Bhutanese red rice. Brown rice would work well too. A simple stir-fried green vegetable or a mound of golden oven-roasted carrots with cumin would round out the meal nicely. This is sublime comfort food that warms you up from the inside.

1 1/2 cups of water

heaped 3/4 cup of chiles that have been cut into 1 to 2-inch lengths (deseeded or not - its' up to you)

1 large onion, cut in half vertically and then sliced into then half circles

2 tsp. vegetable oil

5 plump cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped or mashed to a paste

250 grams feta or other mild, non-melting cheese

salt, if needed

a handful of fresh coriander leaves, torn into small pieces

Bring the water to a boil in a medium pan and add the chiles, onion, and oil. Cover, reduce heat to a strong simmer, and cook for about 15 mins.

Add the garlic and return to a boil, reduce heat again and simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes, until the garlic and chiles are soft.

Stir in the cheese and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir once, then cover and set aside for 10 mins.

Taste and add salt if needed. Serve sprinkled with a few bits of coriander leaf.

Comments

[Will T]

Great photos, and sounds like a great dish -- not what I guess I would have imagined Bhutanese food to be like, but then again, I don't know that I would have any idea what to expect. Thanks for what sounds like a great recipe.

[Nupur]

What a feast for the eyes! The dish looks delicious.

[Robyn]

Nupur - glad you like the photos. Give the dish a try, I'd be interested to know what you think.

Hi Will - it was unexpected for us too. Tasted of the American southwest, more than the Himalayas. Thanks for dropping by ... eagerly awaiting your first post from China!

[alan]

The soup sounds so simple, but compelling. I can't wait to cook it, but one of my housemates can't handle heat. I'm making this the next time she's away on a trip.

Thank you for sharing so many photos from your trip. They provided helpful context about a region I know woefully little about.

[ostwestwind]

Congratulations, great entry and recipe!

[boo_licious]

Congratulations! I just saw the announcement.

[Larry]

Congratulations on winning! Just noticed and spent a few minutes drooling over your wonderful photos. We had hoped to visit Bhutan while we lived in Asia but got plucked out just a wee bit too soon (after almost 17 years).

Gotta try this dish. We just got Mangos and Curry Leaves also, so it's time to try things out.

Thanks for a beautiful post and a great recipe!

[Robyn]

Thanks for the congrats, everyone. Larry, just in case you check back here -- the Sri Lankan fish ball curry and the Goan fish curry in Mangoes and Curry Leaves are both heavenly.

[Juno888]

Good for you because you've visited Asian places..Try other Asian countries..You'll be having less expenses..=)..You'll also be amaze of the places..=)

[cho]

Great to see these beautiful photos – reminds me of our trip to Bhutan. I became rather fond of ema daji which we ate everyday at every meal. Rather comforting after 9 hours of trekking in the cold rain and discovering leeches on you. I particularly enjoyed the locally-brewed rice wine though served with little bits of scrambled eggs and the yak butter making the drink look rather like something from the drains! I wonder if you had the chance to try this or the fabulous yak curry or the rock-hard cubes of tasteless cheese on strings!

[Beena Gurung]

It is great to see all these photoes and Ama Daji recipe which I was desparately looking as I like real hot sometimes. Thank you.

[Account Deleted]

Nice reading your account of the amadasi.

I saw amadasi made quick and dirty way at some of the restaurants in Bhutan where the ingredients would go straight on to a hot hot pan with a bit of water and cheese thrown in to make the chiilies simmer and splutter in fiery indignation and then tossed into a regular stock kind of curry ready prepared.

this was ages ago.

Loved the photo essay on Bhutan.