Flavors
of Asia
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Some believe that the area now called Tibet was once covered by an ocean. Today it is home to the highest mountains in the world and people whose ancestors came from Mongolia, China and Burma. Their traditions are among the oldest on earth. On November 17 the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota held a Tibetan Festival at Landmark Center in St. Paul attracting hundreds of people to enjoy the arts of Tibet. Featuring dancing, music, woodcarving, calligraphy, painting, metalworking and food, the Festival became a bustling indoor bazaar with the longest lines at the Tibetan buffet. Since 1992 the Tibetan population in Minnesota has risen from 2 to about 1000. Among them is the chef responsible for much of the Festival's food, Lhakpa Dorjee. To feed the many diners Dorjee steamed Momo (beef dumplings) and noodles outside the Center on portable gas burners. (Landmark Center does not have facilities inside to handle this type of cooking.) It was a cold, blustery day, but Dorjee managed to keep hot dumplings and steamed noodles flowing in to the buffet lines. "My father taught me to cook when I was 14," recalled Dorjee. A native of Tibet, Dorjee became a chef then moved to New York and cooked in restaurants there. Today he is a chef for the Radisson Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. "The food of Tibet is similar to Chinese food," he explained. The Momo and Thupta, noodles with vegetables, were good examples. But, the cuisine shows some Indian influences as well with its Curries, Roti and Daal. If there is a national dish, it is probably Tsampa, a barley/tea mixture. The barley is roasted in its husk, pounded by hand into flour and then mixed with tiny amounts of tea. It is then rolled into little balls and served as finger food or used to thicken soup. Sometimes butter, sugar or curds are added for flavor. Chef Dorjee and Festival volunteers also served Shoko, a potato salad, Solja or Butter Tea and Milk Tea. While tea is the favorite drink in Tibet, Butter Tea is special. In Tibet it is made with Yak butter but you can use local butter in the recipe supplied by the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota. You can taste Tibetan cuisine in two Twin Cities' restaurants offering food of Tibet and Nepal. In St. Louis Park Shangri-la has just opened at 8120 Minnetonka Boulevard (near Texas Avenue) with a lunch buffet and dinner specialties including Momo, Roti, Sekuwa, Pulav and Daal. For more information call 952-238-0688. Everest on Grand in St. Paul offers "The Tallest Taste" of Nepali and Tibetan cuisine. Features include lunch buffet on weekdays and Yak Momo. Located at 1278 Grand Avenue, the restaurant also has a website at www.hotmomo.com or call 651-696-1666 for more information. While there are not many Tibetan cookbooks on the market there is The Lhasa Moon Tibetan Cookbook, by Tserina Wangmo and Zara Houshmand. It is available from www.amazon.com for $10.47 and at www.ecookbooks.com for $11.96. You may also borrow a copy of The Nepal Cookbook, by the Association of Nepalis in the Americas from the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota. While it features the cooking of Nepal many of the dishes are similar to Tibetan food such as Momo and Daal. You may be seeing even more Tibetan food soon as Chef Dorjee is looking for a spot to open his own restaurant. Meanwhile, try the recipe below and get a taste of the tallest country on earth. For additional recipes or more information about Tibet contact the American Tibetan Foundation of Minnesota, 2344 Nicollet Avenue South in Minneapolis, 612-872-4866. Solja 3 cups water Combine the water and tea bags in a saucepan and bring to
a boil. Reduce heat to low to keep tea hot without boiling. Remove
tea bags. Stir the tea while adding the half-an-half and milk.
Add the salt and mix. Add the butter cut into 3 or 4 pieces so
that it will melt quickly and continue stirring. When the butter
has melted, remove tea from the heat and whip the mixture with
an eggbeater until frothy 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately. |
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