When Chef Kunal Kapur was invited to the Indo Bhutan Literary Festival, Mountain Echoes from May 22 to 24, to present his cook book, A Chef In Every Home, the Delhi-based celebrity chef extended his stay to visit Thimpu and Paro.
<img title="Chef Kunal Kapur at a market in Bhutan" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2014/aug/Chef-Kunal-Kapur.jpg" alt="Chef Kunal Kapur at a market in Bhutan" /> Chef Kunal Kapur at a market in Bhutan
For one, he wanted to see the humble country locked between India, China and Nepal, and secondly, to get a taste of the Bhutanese cuisine he had little knowledge of. &ldquo;It was a completely new cooking lesson for me. I had assumed the Bhutanese food would be heavily influenced by its three neighbours. But I was mistaken. It has a cuisine of its own,&rdquo; says Kapur.
A produce-driven region, it grows vegetables such as asparagus, fiddlehead fern, along with red rice and maize, which is served with yak, chicken and pork meat. Red rice, which is a small, rough, unrefined and fibre-rich variety, is their staple food. &ldquo;I tried the Ema Datshi, a dish made of chillies and homemade cheese.
While Ema is medium spicy chilli, datshi can either be yak or cow cheese, which is also available in the smoked version,&rdquo; says Kapur. The chef smelled the dish when it was served to him and what followed was a barrage of sneezes. &ldquo;My fellow companions bursted out laughing,&rdquo; recalls Kapur.
Local ingredients also included buckwheat flour (called kuttu flour in Hindi), fiddlehead fern and asparagus. &ldquo;Bhutanese food, be it at the queen mother&rsquo;s royal palace or on the road-side cart is humble, filling and nutritious; served by smiling people exuding a sense of happiness,&rdquo; he adds.

Chef Kunal Kapur, who was in the country last month, shares with us the taste of local homemade cheese and hot chillies

A taste of Bhutan's spicy cuisine

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Home / Mumbai-guide / Mumbai Food / Article / A taste of Bhutan's spicy cuisine

A taste of Bhutan's spicy cuisine

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast