Tsampa with Butter Tea

Name: Tsampa with Butter Tea
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Tibetan
Ingredients: 4 cups water; 2 tbsp loose black tea leaves; 4 tbsp butter (traditionally yak butter); 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste; 2 cups roasted barley flour (tsampa); 2 tbsp crumbled dried yak cheese (chhurpi), optional; sugar, to taste, optional

by CommunityKitchen

TibetanEasy15 minServes 4

This is the daily bread of the Tibetan plateau: pre-roasted barley flour kneaded right in the cup with hot, salty, buttery po cha until it turns into a dense hand-eaten dough, needing no cooking at all since the barley grain was already boiled, dried and roasted before it was ground into flour.

Per
serving

390kcal

10gprotein

47gcarbs

17gfat

Ingredients

4 cups water
2 tbsp loose black tea leaves
4 tbsp butter (traditionally yak butter)
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
2 cups roasted barley flour (tsampa)
2 tbsp crumbled dried yak cheese (chhurpi), optional
sugar, to taste, optional

Before you cook

Have the roasted barley flour measured out and ready in a bowl.
Crumble the dried yak cheese if using.

Steps

Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan.
Add the tea leaves and boil for 5 minutes until dark and strong.
Strain the tea into a blender or tall jug, discarding the leaves.
Add the butter and salt to the hot tea.
Blend or whisk vigorously for about 1 minute until the tea turns pale and frothy with no oily droplets floating on top.
Pour the hot butter tea into four cups, filling each about one-third full.
Spoon 1/2 cup of tsampa flour into each cup alongside the tea.
Sprinkle a little crumbled dried cheese and sugar over the flour, if using.
Using your fingers, work the flour into the tea a little at a time, pressing it against the side of the cup.
Keep kneading by hand until all the flour is incorporated and the mixture pulls together into a soft, dense dough.
Pinch off small pieces of the dough to eat, sipping any remaining butter tea alongside.

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