first stop - Appetizers & Drinks

Guest Appetizer Recipe:

Nick and Carolina, living in the Netherlands, provides this wonderful Tibetan meat pastry. To go with this appetizer, they suggest a butter tea, known as Po Cha, as it is the most typical Tibetan drink.

See others in the progressive dinner menu.

Sha-Balé

Ingredients: Onions
3 Fresh ground ginger
1 tbs Fresh ground garlic
1 tbs Oil
2 tbs Ground cumin
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tbs Sesame oil
1 tsp Hot water
2 tbs Minced lamb or beef
1 kg Flour
6 cups Cold water

Preparation: In a large bowl belnd together the cold water and the flour, adding the water little by little until getting a soft dough. Knead the dough for some minutes (around 4-5) and leave it stand for a while at room temperature. In a bowl combine together the hot water,chopped onion, oil, salt, spices and the meat, mix them well. Roll out the dough as thin as possible and cut from it round discs from around 10 cm diameter. Put 2 teaspoons of the meat mixture on the round and flatten it down a little. Deep fry the sha-balé in hot oil. Serve with chilli sauce.

Po Cha - Doing a quick search, I came across this recipe by Ron Pulicari from the Well Fed Network. Here are a few of his remarks: "Well, if you’re interested in making butter tea you might have trouble following traditional recipes since they call for yak butter. This version is updated to allow for local ingredients and modern “mixing” methods. Traditionally, the concoction is made in a churn but since I’ve retired my churn along with my cotton gin, a cocktail shaker will have to do. Make a regular cup of unflavored black tea and put it in a mixer or a container with a tight fitting cover. (Please be careful when shaking hot beverages) Include a small pinch of salt, a teaspoon of butter, and some milk. Shake the tea, salt, butter and milk in the shaker for 15 seconds. This emulsifies the butter so that it doesn’t rise to the top of the tea and cause the butter slick I described above."