Bhutan is in the Eastern Himalayas, sandwiched in between India and China. It seems to have a very unique history and culture, based on a strong belief in Buddhism.
When it comes to cuisine, the Bhutanese love their chili peppers. Having little experience cooking with hot peppers myself, I greatly underestimated the intensity of flavor they can add to a dish. And since the recipes called for little seasoning, I was expecting a very bland evening. But what we got was quite the opposite.
Ema Datshi is the national dish of Bhutan. It consists of onions, garlic, chili peppers and tomatoes, which are sauteed and then mixed with cheese until melted. The result is a sort of dip or fondue. It is typically served as an appetizer or side dish with red rice. I had a baguette on hand, so decided to serve the Ema Datshi as an appetizer with warmed bread. I used a recipe posted online by someone who had traveled to Bhutan and adapted the traditional recipe to incorporate more easily acquired American ingredients. According to Ted it tasted, "kind of like a jalapeno popper!" It was remarkably addicting, and I would definitely serve this as a hot dip when entertaining guests.
The main course for the evening was called "Pork Fing". The recipe was easy to execute with few ingredients. I browned onion and cubed pork in a frying pan, then added chopped tomatoes and water, and allowed the pork to cook by simmering. As with Benin, the recipe instructed cooking the meat for over an hour. I kept a close eye on the pork and cut the cooking time in half. I then added noodles known as "cellophane noodles" to the pan. Before heading to the grocery store, I did a quick search for these online and learned that they are also known as "bean sprouts" and "Chinese vermicelli". I found the bag of cellophane noodles in the Chinese food section of the international aisle at my market. I quickly dubbed them "brains" given their translucent nature and slimy consistency. (But don't worry, they were actually very tasty!)
I added julienned red and green chili peppers at the same time as the noodles. In less than five minutes, everything was heated through and the noodles had absorbed the excess water in the pan. I added an extremely generous amount of salt and pepper, since I was very nervous about the flavor of the dish. But there was no need for concern. Unlike the Ema Datshi, where the heat of the peppers seemed to mellow while they cooked, a subtle and pleasant heat radiated through each bite of my Pork Fing.
We scored Bhutan a 3.75.
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