The potato is a newcomer here and was not welcome at first. It reached Bhutan in the late eighteenth century and for a long time the Bhutanese would not eat it, holding that it upset the stomach, so it was grown almost entirely for export across the border. That reluctance has gone completely. Kewa is potato, and kewa datshi is now the dish a household cooks when it wants the comfort of ema datshi without the fight, sliced thin and cooked down in the same cheese and chilli liquid until the starch thickens the sauce around it. It is the version put in front of children and visitors, so reliably the gentle introduction to this pantry that Bhutanese cooks half-jokingly call it the foreigner’s delight, and it is eaten over red rice or alongside steamed buns from a farmhouse kitchen to a monastery table.
INGREDIENTS
- 600 g waxy potatoes (peeled and sliced 5mm thick)
- 1 medium onion (sliced)
- 4 long green chillies (slit lengthways)
- 3 garlic cloves (sliced)
- 1 small tomato (cut into wedges)
- 1 tbsp butter
- ½ tsp salt
- 300 ml water
- 120 g feta (rinsed and crumbled)
- 2 slices processed cheese
- a few coriander leaves (to finish)
METHOD
- Put the potatoes, onion, chillies, garlic, tomato, butter, salt and water in a wide pan. The water should just come level with the potatoes.
- Bring to a boil, then cover and cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes, until a knife slides into a potato slice with only slight resistance.
- Scatter the feta over and lay the cheese slices on top. Cover and cook on the lowest heat for 5 minutes without stirring.
- Fold gently, two or three passes only, until the melted cheese and the starchy liquid come together into a sauce that clings to the slices. Add a splash of hot water if it has tightened too far.
- Scatter the coriander over and serve with red rice or steamed buns.