Sukuti is meat dried to keep, and in the hills that was never a choice. Lean strips of buffalo or goat are salted, rubbed with garlic, ginger and chilli, and hung to dry over a wood fire or in the sun until they are firm and dark, with no sugar cure and nothing sweet about them, which is exactly where they part company from supermarket jerky. Among the Gurung, Rai and Limbu the drying carries beyond the pantry into ritual, offered to guests, served at celebrations and at funerals alike. Sadeko is what happens when it comes back down: soaked soft, pounded, briefly fried, then tossed while warm with raw onion, tomato, timur, chilli, lemon and a hard pour of mustard oil. It is drinking food, the plate that goes round while the rice is still cooking, and it is the dried-meat cousin of choila with the same spicing and a longer memory.
INGREDIENTS
- 200 g whole dried buff or mutton sukuti
- 3 tbsp mustard oil
- 1 red onion (finely chopped)
- 1 medium tomato (finely chopped)
- 4 garlic cloves (minced)
- 3 cm ginger (minced)
- 3 green chillies (finely sliced)
- 1 tsp ground Sichuan peppercorns
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp salt
- juice of 1 lemon
- a large handful of coriander (chopped)
- 2 spring onions (sliced)
METHOD
- Soak the sukuti in warm water for 15 to 20 minutes, until the strips give when pressed. Drain and squeeze out the water.
- Pound the softened strips lightly with a rolling pin or in a mortar to loosen the fibres, then tear or cut them into bite-sized pieces.
- Heat 2 tbsp of the mustard oil until it just shimmers. It should sizzle when the meat touches it but not smoke.
- Fry the sukuti for 3 to 4 minutes, turning, until the edges crisp and darken. Tip it into a bowl while still hot.
- Add the onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, chillies, ground peppercorns, turmeric, cumin and salt.
- Pour over the lemon juice and the remaining tablespoon of mustard oil and toss hard with your hands until every piece glistens.
- Fold through the coriander and spring onions and serve at once, with chiura or on its own.