Friday, June 25, 2010

Tibetan Tsampa with Nepalese Style Stir Fried Greens

Tsampa is a Tibetan staple food made from roasted barley or wheat flour and served with butter tea.It can be heralded as the national food of Tibetan and can be made easily. I actually came across a simple recipe for Tsampa or campa as it is also known in Zu's spicy Kitchen.I had whole wheat berries sitting in my pantry for a long time and thought I could try this recipe.I also tried the Nepalese stir fried greens which Zu had made and served this along with.

Tsampa :
Roasted Whole Wheat Flour
Ghee/Oil/Butter
Salt

Black Tea made by boiling water and adding black tea .

Roasted Flour:
Whole Wheat Berries.

Preparation:
Whole Wheat Flour:
In a deep pan,dry roast the wheat berries till they darken slightly shaking/stirring occasionally.A wonderful aroma permeats during this time.Remove from heat and cool.Grind to a powder of your desired consistency.This can be eaten raw and also sprinkled on top of salads and veggies for that extra crunch or used just as regular Wheat flour.I went for courser flour.

Campa/Tsampa:
In a bowl,mix together roasted flour,ghee and salt.Add black tea little by little and form/bind to form a firm dough.Pinch pieces of the dough and roll into balls.

Serve as such or with choice of savoury as well as sweet sides.I served it with Nepali Stir Fried Greens.

Nepali Stir Fried Greens:
Ingredients:
Greens Chopped: 1 cup (I used spinach,okra and methi leaves)
Mustard oil
Ginger:1 inch chopped fresh
Chilli Flakes
Lovage/Ajwain/Omam:
Jeera/Cumin
Turmeric
Salt

Preparation:
Clean and chop the veggies roughly.Heat oil in a pan and add the lovage,chilli flakes,cumin and ginger.Add the greens and salt and turmeric.Let them cook till done. Serve as a side to rice or with tsampa.

The greens were just fine and easily made and had the spices I was familiar with.But I deliberated making the tsampa as I had never used tea to make dough.But then I decided to make it as the recipe was very easy.The tsampa turned good and next time I am planning to make this with cardamom tea and add sweetner to get a sweeter version.

The combo went very well together and can be treated as a snack or even as a light meal.Since the wheat berries were lazing in my pantry for a long time I think the tsampa should go to BB4:Whats Lurking in the Kitchen by Nupur.

10 Comments:

Bombay Foodie said...

I love travelling the world with you. Is there a country you haven't cooked from yet :)

Unknown said...

Wow, that's a new cuisine and sounds great !!!

Priya Suresh said...

Such a beautiful dishes, looks delicious, healthy and yummy..

Indian Cuisine Blogroll said...

Nice to know about this Tibetan and Nepalese delicacies...

Kiran said...

Love the Tibetan Tsampa and the Nepalese stir fried greens.Looks very delicious.

Nupur said...

What an interesting dish- thanks for the entry!

Vanamala Hebbar said...

Nice one....

Anonymous said...

Hi,

This sounds very different. I would love to try. BTW, your blog has interesting recipes with lovely pics!

Gretchen said...

I had a sweet tsampa for dessert. I think that it was baked. Do you know how I would make this? Thank you Gretchen

Gretchen said...

I had a sweet tsampi as a dessert. I think that it was baked. any ideas on how to make this? thank you

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