Kanchemba belongs to the Thakali, the trading community of Thak Khola in Mustang, whose kitchens run on buckwheat rather than rice. Two buckwheat varieties grow in Nepal: mithe phapar, the common sweet sort raised everywhere from the Tarai to the high valleys, and tite phapar, the bitter tartary buckwheat that will only take at altitude and carries a distinct bitterness. In autumn the Mustang fields go over to buckwheat flower. The flour is cooked into a stiff dough first, then cut into fingers and fried, which gives an outside that shatters and a centre that stays soft and faintly sweet. It is eaten with timmur chhop, a dry rub of roasted Sichuan pepper, chilli and salt ground together, and the tingling is half the point of the dish.
Zone: Tibetan Sphere
INGREDIENTS
- 200 g buckwheat flour
- 250 ml water
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp salt
- vegetable oil (for deep frying)
- 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
- 4 dried red chillies
- 3 garlic cloves
- ½ tsp salt (for the chhop)
METHOD
- Bring the water to a boil in a deep pan or karahi. Stir in the ghee and the salt.
- Scatter the buckwheat flour over the surface in stages, spreading it evenly rather than dumping it in one place.
- Drop the heat to its lowest setting and work the mixture hard with a wooden spatula for 4 to 5 minutes, pressing it against the side of the pan, until it comes together as a thick dough with no dry pockets.
- Take it off the heat and leave for 5 minutes, until it is warm rather than hot.
- Tip the dough onto a board, flatten it to about 1.5cm thick and cut it into fingers roughly the size of thick chips.
- Meanwhile make the timmur chhop. Toast the peppercorns and dried chillies in a dry pan for 30 seconds until they smell sharp, then grind them with the garlic and salt to a coarse rub.
- Heat the oil to 180C and fry the fingers in small batches for 3 to 4 minutes, until the outsides are crisp and dark gold.
- Drain on paper, dust generously with the timmur chhop and eat hot.
NOTES
UK adaptation: Buckwheat flour from any health food shop, large supermarket or online; the plain sort sold for pancakes and blinis is right, not a self-raising blend. Tartary buckwheat flour, if you can find it, gives the bitter high-altitude version. Timur is Nepali wild Sichuan pepper; Sichuan peppercorns from a Chinese grocer work. Naturally gluten free provided the flour is milled in a gluten free facility. Everything else widely available.
US adaptation: Buckwheat flour from a natural foods store, a supermarket baking aisle or online. Sichuan peppercorns from an Asian grocery or online for timur. Everything else widely available.
Cook’s note: Cook the dough properly on the lowest heat and beat it hard with a wooden spatula for the full four or five minutes, because undercooked buckwheat dough tastes raw and chalky no matter how well you fry it afterwards. Let it cool to warm before shaping, and fry in small batches so the oil temperature holds.