Hoentay

Ingredients

Dough

• 400 gbuckwheat flour
• 100 gplain flour
• 1/2 tspsalt
• 300 mlhot water, approximately

Filling

• 500 gturnip greens, finely chopped
• 200 gspinach, finely chopped
• 150 gdatshi, or a soft crumbly cheese
• 1onion, finely chopped
• 3spring onions, sliced
• 3garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbspgrated ginger
• 2dried red chillies, crushed
• 2 tbspbutter
• 1 tspground Sichuan pepper or timur
• salt

To serve

• melted butter
• ezay chilli sauce

Directions

1. Wash the greens thoroughly and shake them dry. Chop them as finely as you can manage, which takes some time. Melt the butter in a wide pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook it for five minutes until soft. Add the garlic, ginger and crushed chillies and cook them for a minute.
2. Add the chopped greens and spinach in handfuls as they wilt down. Cook them for eight minutes until they have collapsed completely. Keep cooking until the pan is dry and no liquid pools when you push the greens aside. A wet filling will tear the fragile buckwheat wrapper from inside.
3. Tip the greens into a sieve and press out any remaining liquid. Let them cool completely before adding the cheese. Crumble the cheese into the cooled greens and mix it through. Add the spring onions, the ground pepper and salt to taste. The small amount of plain flour is there to give it just enough to hold.
4. Put the flours and salt in a bowl and make a well. Pour in hot water gradually, mixing with a spoon as you go. Hot water is important, since it helps the buckwheat starch bind. Bring it together into a firm dough that is not sticky. Knead it for five minutes, which is more about compacting than developing. It should feel dense and slightly crumbly at the edges.
5. Cover it with a damp cloth and let it rest for twenty minutes. Keep it covered throughout, since it dries out and cracks fast. Now rolling, which needs a light touch. Take a small piece of dough and keep the rest under the cloth. Roll it into a rope and cut it into pieces the size of a walnut. Roll each piece into a ball between your palms.
6. Flatten it and roll it out into a round about ten centimetres across. Roll from the centre outwards and turn it as you go. Press the cracks closed with a damp finger as they appear. Now filling and shaping, which is done one at a time.
7. Put a heaped teaspoon of filling in the centre of a round. Do not overfill, since the wrapper has little strength to give. Bring the edges up around the filling. Pinch the edge closed firmly the whole way along. Fold small pleats along the sealed edge if you can manage it.
8. Set each finished dumpling on a floured tray and cover it. Work steadily, since exposed dumplings dry and split. Line a steamer basket with greased leaves or baking parchment. Arrange the dumplings with space between them so they do not stick. Bring water to a rolling boil beneath the steamer. Steam them for eighteen to twenty minutes. Do not lift the lid in the first ten minutes.
9. Lift them out carefully with a spatula, since they are fragile hot. Now serving, which is done hot with butter and chilli. Brush the hot dumplings with melted butter. Serve them with ezay, the Bhutanese chilli and cheese relish.

Technique

• Cook the filling until the pan is dry, since a wet filling tears the fragile wrapper.
• Buckwheat dough has no gluten and cracks at the edges; press cracks closed with a damp finger.
• Keep the dough and shaped dumplings covered, as they dry out within minutes.

Substitutions

• Spinach and chard if turnip greens are unavailable.
• Feta or a dry crumbly cheese in place of datshi.

Variations

• Fried in butter the day after, which is how leftovers are eaten.
• With dried turnip greens, used out of season.
• With a little dried yak cheese grated into the filling.

History

Buckwheat dumpling stuffed with turnip greens, made in the Haa valley for Lomba, the local new year festival.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hoentay?

Hoentay is a snack from Bhutan: haa Valley buckwheat dumplings stuffed with turnip greens and cheese. Buckwheat dumpling stuffed with turnip greens, made in the Haa valley for Lomba, the local new year festival.

How long does Hoentay take to make?

Hoentay takes 1 hour of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes 20 dumplings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Hoentay?

Yes, within limits. Spinach and chard if turnip greens are unavailable. Feta or a dry crumbly cheese in place of datshi.

What is the most important thing to get right in Hoentay?

Put a heaped teaspoon of filling in the centre of a round. Do not overfill, since the wrapper has little strength to give. Bring the edges up around the filling. Pinch the edge closed firmly the whole way along. Fold small pleats along the sealed edge if you can manage it.