Bhutan is the only country in the world that treats the chilli as a vegetable rather than a seasoning, and ema datshi is the proof. The dish is chillies first, cheese second: a panful of split green chillies softened in water with a little onion and garlic, then bound in just enough melted cheese to coat them. Datshi is a fresh, soft, faintly sour cheese pressed from cow milk in the valley dairies, and in Bhutanese kitchens it is a binder rather than a luxury. It is eaten at breakfast, at lunch and at dinner, over red rice, in farmhouses and in Thimphu offices alike, and a Bhutanese meal without chilli is widely held to be no meal at all. Almost every other dish in the country is a variation on this one: swap the chillies for potatoes, mushrooms or fern shoots and the name changes but the logic does not.
INGREDIENTS
- 250 g long green chillies (stalks removed and split lengthways)
- 1 medium onion (sliced thin)
- 4 garlic cloves (sliced)
- 1 small tomato (cut into thin wedges)
- 1 tbsp butter
- ½ tsp salt
- 200 ml water
- 150 g feta (rinsed and crumbled)
- 2 slices processed cheese
- 2 spring onions (sliced, to finish)
METHOD
- Put the chillies, onion, garlic, tomato, butter, salt and water into a wide pan. The water should come about halfway up the chillies rather than cover them.
- Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and cook for 10 minutes until the chillies have slumped and lost their raw bite.
- Scatter the feta and lay the processed cheese slices over the top. Cover again and cook on the lowest heat for 4 to 5 minutes without stirring, until the cheese has melted into the liquid.
- Lift the lid and fold the sauce through the chillies two or three times, no more. It should be loose and pourable, coating the chillies rather than burying them.
- Scatter the spring onions over and serve at once, with red rice.