Bhutan is small and its grains are not. Rice runs the west, millet and maize the south, corn the east, and in the high valleys of Bumthang and Haa it is buckwheat, wheat and barley, both the sweet buckwheat and the bitter kind. Puta is Bumthang’s dish, buckwheat dough pressed through a wooden press straight into boiling water, and pressing it is genuinely hard physical work. Until recently you would rarely eat it unless you came from there. It goes onto the table on special occasions and is offered as tshok to gods and to monks, and there is a belief attached that eating it drives off evil spirits, on the grounds that it looks like eating live worms. The sauce is almost nothing: spring onions, chilli and egg fried in oil, poured over. Too much of it, especially with buttermilk, is said to leave you bloated, which nobody seems to consider a reason to eat less.
INGREDIENTS
- 400 g soba noodles (high buckwheat content)
- 4 tbsp vegetable or mustard oil
- 1 medium onion (thinly sliced)
- 3 green chillies (sliced)
- 6 spring onions (cut into lengths)
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 1 tsp ground Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp soy sauce (optional)
METHOD
- Boil the noodles in well-salted water until just tender, then drain and rinse briefly in cold water so they stop cooking and do not clump.
- Heat the oil in a wide pan over a medium heat and cook the onion and chillies for 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent and just turning gold.
- Add the spring onions and stir for 30 seconds.
- Push everything to one side, pour the beaten egg into the clear space and let it set for a few seconds before breaking it up with the spoon.
- Add the drained noodles, the salt, the ground peppercorns and the soy sauce if you are using it.
- Toss everything together over the heat for 2 minutes, until the noodles are coated and glossy, and serve hot.