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Tibetan Food

The gorgeous and unique Tibet is the place closest to paradise. In addition to its beautiful scenery, food can also not live up to it. When you come to Tibet, if you want to deeply feel the unique way of life in Tibet, you still need to taste the special Tibetan cuisine-Tibetan food. This area full of unknowns and irreplaceable has made this unique cuisine.

butter tea

butter tea

Butter tea is the main drink of Tibetans and is known as the taste memory of Tibet. It is brick tea made from Pu-erh tea leaves boiled in water and seasoned with ghee and salt. Ghee is extracted from cow and goat milk and has high nutritional value. When making butter tea, put an appropriate amount of butter into a special bucket, add the boiled strong tea juice and salt, and repeatedly pound with a wooden handle to make it dissolve into a body and be milky. This tea not only tastes salty and sweet, mellow and delicious, but also can be used as a supplement of nutrients and calories, easy to digest, hunger and thirst, and even help to treat colds and relieve altitude sickness.

Tsampa

Tsampa is the traditional staple food of the Tibetan people. It is made from the flour of barley or peas after being roasted and ground. When eaten, it is often enjoyed with butter tea, and can also be adjusted to salt tea, yogurt or highland barley wine to increase the taste. When the herdsmen travel, they often put Zanba in their pockets and eat it when they are hungry, because it has a strong sense of satiety. During the production process, milk residue, white sugar or brown sugar can be added according to personal preference, so that the more chewing the more fragrant.

Tsampa
Minced meat puffs

Minced meat puffs

It is a special type of pasta in Tibet, similar to Northwest ramen but with a unique style. The preparation process involves pressing and cooking the noodles in advance and then drying them for use. To serve, heat the noodles in the scalding beef broth. The charm of Tibetan noodles lies mainly in its soup, which is usually made from mountain yak bones and tastes light and delicious. Add a small amount of salt and green onion, and it becomes a delicious bowl of Tibetan noodles. The noodles themselves are slightly raw, soft outside and hard inside, and the more they chew, the more they taste. Paired with sweet tea, it’s perfect.

Tibetan noodles are a type of noodle that is made from wheat flour and water. They are similar to the Chinese-style noodles but are thicker and chewier in texture.  Tibetan noodles are usually served in a soup or stir-fried with vegetables and meat. The soup is flavored with a mixture of spices and herbs, giving it a unique and delicious taste.

Highland barley wine

Highland barley wine is an indispensable drink for Tibetan people when they celebrate festivals, get married, give birth to children and welcome relatives and friends. It is brewed from the main grain of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau – highland barley, sour and sweet taste, low alcohol content, similar to beer. When drinking highland barley wine, people pay attention to “three mouths and one cup”, that is, drink a mouthful first, pour it full, drink a mouthful again, fill it, drink a third mouthful, fill a dry cup. In addition, the brewing process of highland barley wine is relatively simple, just boil the dried highland barley to dry the water vapor, add the powder of fermentation cake, put into the jar sealed storage for two to three days.

Highland barley wine
Yogurt

Tibetan Yogurt

Tibetan yogurt is an unforgettable delicacy, its unique preparation process and taste make it unique among many yogurts. Tibetan yogurt is mainly divided into “Dasxue” and “Russian snow” two kinds, the former is made with milk refined ghee, the latter is made with milk unrefined ghee. This yoghurt is made from fresh yak milk that is steamed, cooled and fermented, and sometimes appears as a milky paste or curdles into clumps. Its thick layer and pure clean taste are like the blue sky and white clouds on the snowy plateau, giving people a sense of the realm that cannot be surpassed.

Sweet Tea

Sweet tea is a very popular drink in Lhasa and surrounding areas. It is made of black tea, milk or milk powder and sugar. It is sweet and nutritious. In the streets of Lhasa, sweet tea houses can be seen everywhere, people are used to putting change on the table, the waiter will take the initiative to pour sweet tea for them and collect the money. Despite the mellow taste of sweet tea, drinking too much can easily lead to anger. Legend has it that sweet tea has been introduced to Tibet for more than 100 years, initially brought by Islamic traders who traveled through Tibet, Nepal, and India, and later gained the love of Lhasa nobles.

Sweet Tea
Lulang stone pot chicken

Lulang stone pot chicken

It is a special food of Lulang town in Nyingchi, made of local chicken and a special stone pot. This stone pot is made from the unique black mica stone pit of Medok and is very expensive. When braising chicken, in addition to chicken, it will also add matsutake, mushroom, palm ginseng, wolfberry, red dates and other ingredients and Chinese medicinal materials, so that the soup is fresh and fragrant, with a touch of medicine. The chicken is tender and the soup is rich. It is a good value of Nyingchi cuisine.

Tibetan blood sausage

It is a traditional food of farmers and herdsmen in Tibet, and its preparation method is unique. When the sheep is slaughtered, the blood is not cooked alone, but mixed with minced lamb, salt, Sichuan pepper and zanba powder, which is poured into the small intestine and cooked. This kind of black sausage will not be broken, not slag, not peeling, taste fragrant, soft and tender, neither greasy nor wood. Different from other Cantonese and Sichuan sausages, Tibetan style black sausage has a unique flavor and is a common dish in Tibetan snacks.

Tibetan blood sausage
Tibetan Pig

Tibetan Pig

Tibetan pig is a famous delicacy in Nyingchi Prefecture and is highly respected for its unique feeding method and nutritional value. This pig grows in the plateau region at an altitude of 3,000 to 4,000 meters and feeds on natural wild edible plants and fruits. Due to the particularity of the growing environment and the feeding method of grazing, the fat content of Tibetan pigs is low, the meat is delicious, not greasy, delicious taste, and rich nutrition. It is known as the “ginseng pig” that grows up “drinking spring water and eating mountain treasures”. It is a traditional food of the Tibetan nation and also an excellent royal tribute.

Air dried yak meat

Air dried yak is a traditional food of the Tibetan people, especially in the pastoral areas and the whole Tibetan region, this tibetan food is common. Due to the high altitude of Tibet, the Tibetan people mainly rely on beef, mutton and dairy products, of which air-dried yak meat is one of the characteristics. Not only is this meat product high in calories to help ward off the cold, but its unique flavor can only be tasted in the plateau region. In Tibetan families, air-dried yak meat is often hung in the house or tent as a meal for guests. In addition, yaks will eat cordyceps and other wild herbs on the grassland during the process of stocking, making air-dried yaks nutritious and delicious.

Air dried yak meat
Hand-grabbed lamb

Hand-grabbed lamb

Hand-grabbed lamb is a representative characteristic of tibetan food, with a history of nearly a thousand years, and continues to innovate in taste, such as cold, hot and fried. This dish is made of the freshest and tender mutton, which is loved by local residents because of its excellent color and flavor. The Tibetans have a lot of experience in cooking mutton, and they cook it using unique herbs, which greatly reduces the odor of the mutton and gives it a taste that is both tender and chewy. Eaten with zanba, it is delicious.

Cheese steamed stuffed bun

Cheese steamed stuffed bun is a famous pasta snack in Tibet.  The filling is made of the remaining milk residue after fresh yak milk is refined into butter, so the flavor is a unique mixture of both beef and milk. This kind of steamed bun is not only popular in Tibet, but also because of its unique taste and nutritional value, it has become a favorite delicacy of all ethnic groups.

Cheese steamed stuffed bun

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