Ingredients
Chillies
- 300 gfresh green chillies (Bhutanese ema, or long green cayenne/serrano), stems removed, split lengthways
- 1large onion, sliced thickly lengthways
- 3garlic cloves, sliced
- 1tomato, cut into wedges
- 200 mlwater
- 1 tspsalt
- 2 tbspmustard oil or vegetable oil
Cheese
- 250 gdatshi, or a mix of 150 g feta and 100 g soft farmer’s cheese, broken into rough pieces
- 60 mlwhole milk or cream
To finish
- 2 tbspcoriander leaf, chopped
- ¼ tspground Sichuan pepper (thingye), optional
To serve
- 400 gBhutanese red rice, steamed
Directions
- Rinse the red rice and cook it in twice its volume of water, covered, for 20–25 minutes until chewy and nutty. It should be on the table at the same time as the ema datshi.
- Split the chillies lengthways and leave the seeds in — in Bhutan the chilli is the vegetable, not the seasoning, and removing the seeds gives a dish that no Bhutanese would recognise.
- Put the chillies, onion, garlic and water in a saucepan with the salt and oil, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 10 minutes until the chillies have softened and gone dull green and the onion is translucent.
- Add the tomato wedges and cook a further 3–4 minutes, uncovered, so some of the water reduces. There should be about 100 ml of liquid left in the pan.
- Scatter the broken cheese over the top and pour in the milk. Do not stir it in yet.
- Cover and cook on the lowest heat for 3–4 minutes until the cheese has slumped and melted into a thick, patchy, off-white sauce.
- Now stir once or twice only, folding the cheese through the chillies. Over-stirring emulsifies it into a smooth uniform sauce and you lose the curdy texture the dish is meant to have.
- Take off the heat, fold in the coriander and the Sichuan pepper if using, and rest 2 minutes. The sauce should coat the chillies and pool loosely, not run like soup or set like fondue.
- Serve immediately, spooned over the red rice, with more rice on the side than you think you need.
Technique
- Ema datshi is the national dish of Bhutan and is eaten at almost every meal, breakfast included. It is genuinely very hot, and Bhutanese cooks build the heat in rather than taming it.
- Datshi is a fresh, soft, slightly sour cow’s or yak’s milk cheese that softens rather than stringing. Feta plus a mild fresh cheese is the closest supermarket approximation; mozzarella and cheddar both string and are wrong.
- Keep the liquid low. Ema datshi is a thick sauce, not a soup, and too much water leaves the cheese thin and grainy.
- Bhutanese red rice, a semi-milled short grain from the Paro valley, is the traditional partner and its nuttiness stands up to the chilli.
Substitutions
- For a milder version, use half green chillies and half sliced green sweet pepper — this is what is served to visitors, and Bhutanese cooks will tell you it is a compromise.
- Dried red chillies, soaked 20 minutes in hot water, replace fresh in winter and make the version called ema datshi with red chilli.
Variations
- Kewa datshi, made with sliced potato instead of, or alongside, the chillies.
- Shamu datshi, the same cheese sauce built on sliced mushrooms — the most popular of the datshi family after ema.
History
Bhutan’s national dish, chillies stewed in local cheese; chillies arrived through Tibet and India and are treated here as a vegetable, not a seasoning.
Frequently asked questions
What is Ema Datshi?
Ema Datshi is a main from Bhutan: national dish of chilies cooked in melted cheese sauce. Bhutan’s national dish, chillies stewed in local cheese; chillies arrived through Tibet and India and are treated here as a vegetable, not a seasoning.
How long does Ema Datshi take to make?
Ema Datshi takes 15 min of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Ema Datshi?
Yes, within limits. For a milder version, use half green chillies and half sliced green sweet pepper — this is what is served to visitors, and Bhutanese cooks will tell you it is a compromise. Dried red chillies, soaked 20 minutes in hot water, replace fresh in winter and make the version called ema datshi with red chilli.
What is the most important thing to get right in Ema Datshi?
Scatter the broken cheese over the top and pour in the milk. Do not stir it in yet.
