Tsampa Recipe
How To Make (And Eat) Tsampa
Tsampa: The staple diet of most rural Tibetans
Ingredients:
Two hot and dusty foreigners
One small isolated Village
Thirty or Forty Tibetan Villagers
Their lunch
Preparation: Heat to 32 degrees at 2500m altitude. Stop foreigners wandering thru village by waving, shouting and making "drinking tea" and "eating tsampa" movements. All villagers stop building new house and smile, stare and speak Tibetan (and say "Hallo!") to foreigners. Foreigners will smile and mangle Tibetan greetings. Everybody continues smiling.
Remove backpacks from foreigners, and place on Kong inside newly-completed kitchen (Kong: Carpeted Mudbrick bed/eating platform heated from below with fire). Add most villagers to kitchen, those that can't fit inside can view thru window. Children in front, men next and women hovering behind.
Instructions: Pour foreigners Yak butter tea (30g butter + 50:50 milk/tea) in Tsampa bowls. Add 20 or so plain dough buns to table. Smile as foreigners drink and eat, speak more Tibetan. Examine foreigner's photos of family and home, smile. Top up tea regularly.
Now for the tricky part! Confidently place three bowls on table, one with dried cheese granules, one with barley flour and another with raw sugar. Gesticulate to foreigners, make more "eating tsampa" movements. Laugh as foreigners look at each other and begin shrugging shoulders. Pour cheese granules into yak tea. Stop foreigners from adding barley flour. Make blowing and waving movements, and "drinking tea" movements. Stop foreigner drinking all tea. Laugh and call more people as you realise they don't know how to make tsampa. Laugh again as foreigner dips fingers into tea! Eventually the foreigner will understand, and blow the butter layer away to drink the tea below. At last you can add the barley flour! Collapse on the floor laughing as foreigner tries again to blow away butter, and gets face full of barley flour!! Add sugar, and make mixing movements, until foreigners mix butter, cheese, barley flour and sugar - creating tsampa!
Tsampa: The staple diet of most rural Tibetans
Ingredients:
Two hot and dusty foreigners
One small isolated Village
Thirty or Forty Tibetan Villagers
Their lunch
Preparation: Heat to 32 degrees at 2500m altitude. Stop foreigners wandering thru village by waving, shouting and making "drinking tea" and "eating tsampa" movements. All villagers stop building new house and smile, stare and speak Tibetan (and say "Hallo!") to foreigners. Foreigners will smile and mangle Tibetan greetings. Everybody continues smiling.
Remove backpacks from foreigners, and place on Kong inside newly-completed kitchen (Kong: Carpeted Mudbrick bed/eating platform heated from below with fire). Add most villagers to kitchen, those that can't fit inside can view thru window. Children in front, men next and women hovering behind.
Instructions: Pour foreigners Yak butter tea (30g butter + 50:50 milk/tea) in Tsampa bowls. Add 20 or so plain dough buns to table. Smile as foreigners drink and eat, speak more Tibetan. Examine foreigner's photos of family and home, smile. Top up tea regularly.
Now for the tricky part! Confidently place three bowls on table, one with dried cheese granules, one with barley flour and another with raw sugar. Gesticulate to foreigners, make more "eating tsampa" movements. Laugh as foreigners look at each other and begin shrugging shoulders. Pour cheese granules into yak tea. Stop foreigners from adding barley flour. Make blowing and waving movements, and "drinking tea" movements. Stop foreigner drinking all tea. Laugh and call more people as you realise they don't know how to make tsampa. Laugh again as foreigner dips fingers into tea! Eventually the foreigner will understand, and blow the butter layer away to drink the tea below. At last you can add the barley flour! Collapse on the floor laughing as foreigner tries again to blow away butter, and gets face full of barley flour!! Add sugar, and make mixing movements, until foreigners mix butter, cheese, barley flour and sugar - creating tsampa!
posted by Jamie and Katie at 8:59 am
1 Comments:
Hey guys I just read your story about making the Tsampa! thats great! sounded like al ot of fun, how neat to be in such a different culture and to try and communicate! sounds like you had a great time :)
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