Where Tibetan history & potatoes intersect

Tibetan food has been influenced by many cuisines over the centuries, located as it is at the edge of one of the great ancient Asian crossroads. I say "edge" because that is a very important concept when it comes to Tibet, the true hermit land for most of the last millennia.

You see, the Silk Road never made it through Tibet. This enormous and arid place is circled by a natural barrier consisting of the Earth’s highest mountains to the west and south, while the Kunlun and Nanshan Ranges to the north tack Tibet firmly to China at the edge of the vast Gobi. And so, the Silk Road split off into northern and southern routes that bypassed the massive ring of peaks around Tibet’s great central plain.

Because of this unique terrain, Tibet remained hidden for most centuries. Before this, Tibet's people had a fearsome reputation as warriors who had conquered parts of China and both Nepal and northern Burma. But then Buddhism wound its way north from India and over the narrow passes into the heartland of Tibet, and its gentle teachings softened this warlike people to such a remarkable degree that by the tenth century they had closed themselves off behind their mountain passes, and few non-Tibetans other than Chinese officials were thereafter allowed into their hidden world.

Yukon gold wedges

And so, while traders and explorers were kept from stepping foot into this mysterious land – a preference that was underscored in spite of pacific Buddhist creed by executing trespassers with little mercy – the Tibetan people sent their own traders down the winding passes into their neighbors’ territories to obtain whatever ingredients could not be locally grown or made.

This story is a roundabout way of introducing why there are so many warm Indian spices here, for the fragrance of India hovers over many of Tibet’s most beloved dishes.

Rather than using generic curry powder, the people of Tibet often mix together these spices individually to lend unique aromas to each recipe, employing whatever seasonings best complement the main ingredients. And, like good Indian cooks, the spices are first lightly fried in oil or butter to deepen the flavors and release their fragrance. Fenugreek in particular needs to be toasted in warm oil or butter to remove its bitterness and allow its aroma to bloom.

In this beautiful dish of curried potatoes, we see three more imports, but this time around they are from the Americas: potatoes, tomatoes, and chilies. It is hard to imagine Tibetan food without this New World trifecta, but the Tibetan people have adopted them and made them integral components of their local cuisines to such a remarkable degree that they seem almost native to the Himalayas.

Tibetan curried potatoes 
Shogog khatsa

Tibet
Serves 4

Vegetables:

1 pound thin-skinned potatoes, like Yukon golds

Filtered water as needed

½ large onion or 1 small onion

4 cloves garlic

1 Roma or other meaty tomato

Tibetan comfort food

¼ cup peanut or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon finely minced fresh ginger

3 dried Thai chilies

Curry:

1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil

½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

½ teaspoon ground cumin

3 tablespoons filtered water

1. Rinse the potatoes and then cut them into wedges that are about ½ inch on the outside. (You don’t have to peel them unless you want to.) Place them in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil over high heat and then lower the heat to a gentle simmer; cook the potatoes until they are cooked through but not falling apart, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain in a colander and cover with a clean tea towel to keep them warm.

2. While the onions are cooking, cut the onion into ½-inch or so dice and lightly mash the garlic cloves. Cut the tomato in half and squeeze out most of the seeds before cutting the flesh into ½-inch or so dice. Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat and add the ginger, chilies, onion, and garlic. Fry these gently until they just begin to brown, then add the tomato and continue to cook these together until the tomato is soft. Place these vegetables (but not the potatoes) into a small food processor or blender and puree them.

3. Rinse out and dry the wok; heat the oil and fenugreek seeds in it over medium heat until the seeds have turned a nut brown. Add the butter, paprika, turmeric, and cumin, and gently fry these spices together until they smell wonderful. Pour in the water and the puree, mix these together, and then fold in the potatoes. Gently warm the potatoes in this sauce until heated through. Serve hot.

Tips

The most important steps to this ingredient have to do with toasting the spices. The fenugreek has to be toasted first, as otherwise the seeds will be hard and bitter.

Fried onions are always good

At the same time, you have to keep a close eye on the ground spices to keep them from burning. I do this by never raising the heat above medium and stirring the spices almost constantly. As soon as they are toasty and fragrant, I remove them from the heat.

A wonderful book about Tibet and the people who tried to ferret their way into this hidden land – “secret agents and soldiers, adventurers and fortune hunters, missionaries and mystics” – is Peter Hopkirk’s Trespassers on the Roof of the World (Tarcher, 1982).

Stellar Tibetan meatballs

Out in what one writer calls “China’s great back beyond” – the arid lands stretching from Mongolia in the north to Tibet in the vast southwest – leafy vegetables are in short supply, grazing lands are seasonal and sparsely covered with hardy grasses, and the meats are pretty much limited to lamb and mutton and goats, mainly because sheep and goats will eat just about anything as they are herded from one grazing ground to another by nomadic families. 

What that means is that folks in Tibet are pretty good when it comes to turning these animals into some spectacular dishes.

Another wonderful thing that has made Tibetan food into a hidden treasure is its historical relationship via the Karakoram Pass with its Kashmiri neighbors to the south. 

This can be seen very clearly here in the lush, warm spices that are first browned in oil to release their fragrance… fenugreek (see the top photo) and turmeric are not found anywhere else in China as individual flavorings (rather than in ready-made curry powder), and they are one of the many reasons the foods of Tibet are so unique.

If you enjoy gardening, try sprouting some fenugreek seeds in a small pot... the seedlings smell astoundingly like maple syrup!

Shabril

Tibetan meatballs in a yogurt sauce 
Shabril

Tibet
Serves 4 to 6 

Meatballs:

1 pound ground lamb or goat

½ teaspoon whole fenugreek seeds

4 teaspoons peanut or vegetable oil

2 medium onions, chopped

½ teaspoon powdered turmeric

4 cloves garlic, chopped

4 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger

4 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil

Veggies and sauce:

12 large Chinese black mushrooms, stemmed and sliced

Spices & onion in the oil

12 red radishes, sliced

2 tablespoons regular soy sauce

½ cup filtered water

1 cup full fat yogurt

2 green onions, trimmed and finely chopped

1. Place the ground meat on a cutting board and use a cleaver or knife to chop it again until it is fine and fluffy; form these into 12 small meatballs. Place the fenugreek and oil in a wok or frying pan and heat over medium-high until the seeds turn a toasty brown. Add the onions and tumeric and cook them, stirring frequently, until the onions are browned. Remove the onions to a work bowl and add the garlic, ginger, and remaining oil to the wok. Stir these around over the heat to release their fragrance and add the meatballs. Fry the meatballs while swirling the wok around so that they brown all over. Scoop them out and place them in the bowl with the onions.

2. If you have lots of oil floating around in the bottom of the wok at this point, pour off all of it except for a light film. Toss in the mushrooms and radishes, and quickly fry them until the mushrooms are lightly browned. Add the soy sauce and water to the wok, and use this to deglaze the caramelized juices at the bottom of the wok. Return the meatballs and onions to the wok, bring the sauce to a boil, and then cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer the meatballs with the vegetables for about 15 minutes.

Radishes brighten up the dish

3. Bring the wok to a full boil and then remove it from the heat. Stir in the yogurt and adjust the seasoning. Pour the meatballs into a serving dish, sprinkle with the chopped green onions, and serve.

Tips

Get really good quality lamb here; goat is great, too, if you can find it.

Fenugreek and turmeric can be found in better Western-style grocery stores, but I like to get mine from busy Indian markets where I can savor all of the aromas and find something new to eat. 

Be sure to not let the sauce boil again once you have added the yogurt, as this will cause the sauce to break into white globs.

Serve this with rice or griddle breads to soak up all the luxurious sauce.