This is a list of Tibetan dishes and foods. Tibetan cuisine includes the culinary traditions and practices of Tibet and its peoples, many of whom reside in India and Nepal. It reflects the Tibetan landscape of mountains and plateaus. It is known for its use of noodles, goat, yak, mutton, dumplings, cheese (often from yak or goat milk), butter (also from animals adapted to the Tibetan climate) and soups.
The cuisine of Tibet is quite distinct from that of its neighbors. Tibetan crops must be able grow at the high altitudes, although a few areas in Tibet are low enough to grow such crops as rice, oranges, bananas, and lemon.[1] Since only a few crops grow at such high altitudes, many features of Tibetan cuisine are imported, such as tea, rice and others.
Gyabra – a pancake made with barley flour, yak butter, dry cheese curds and sugar
Gyagoh – In Tibetan cuisine, Gyagoh is a chafing dish in the Han Chinese style; a hot pot of vermicelli, kombu, mushrooms, meatballs, bamboo sprouts and salt. It has special significance, generally eaten by senior monks during important ceremonies.[3]
Gyathuk (Tibetan: རྒྱ་ཐུག་) – noodles, much like those of the Han variety, made with eggs, flour and bone soup[3]
Gyuma – a blood sausage made with yak or sheep's blood in Tibetan cuisine. Rice or roasted barley flour can be added as filler.
Khapsey (Tibetan: ཁ་ཟས་) – cookies or biscuits that are deep fried and usually made during celebrations such as the Losar (Tibetan New Year) or weddings
Laphing (Tibetan: ལ་ཕིང) – a spicy cold mung bean noodle dish in Tibetan cuisine
Lowa Khatsa – made of pieces of fried animal lung and spices[4]
Lunggoi Katsa – stewed sheep's head with curry, fennel, monosodium glutamate and salt[3]
Masan – a pastry made with tsampa, dry cubic or curd cheese, yak butter, brown sugar and water[3]
Momo (Tibetan: མོག་མོག) – an East Asian dumpling native to Tibet and also eaten in South Asian countries such as Nepal, Bhutan and India through Tibetan influence
Shoogoi Momo (Tibetan: ཞོག་ཁོག་མོག་མོག) – prepared using mashed potato with dough, shaped into balls, with a minced meat filling, served with bread crumbs
Sepen – hot sauce made with chillies as the primary ingredient and other spices depending on the recipe
Sha Phaley (Tibetan: ཤ་བག་ལེབ་) – bread stuffed with seasoned beef and cabbage
Ara – an alcoholic beverage[5] made from rice, maize, millet, or wheat, which may be either fermented or distilled.[a] Circa the early 1900s, ara was frequently imported from China.[7]
Butter tea – a drink of the people in the Himalayan regions of Nepal, Bhutan, India (particularly in Ladakh, Sikkim) and, most famously, Tibet. Traditionally, it is made from tea leaves, yak butter, water, and salt,[8] although butter made from cow's milk is increasingly used, given its wider availability and lower cost. Yak butter tea has been described as the "Tibetan national beverage."[9]
Dre-si – a sweet dish made with rice that is cooked in unsalted butter and mixed with raisins, droma (gourd shaped root found in Tibet), dates and nuts. This dish is usually served only on Losar (Tibetan new year).
Thue – a delicacy in Tibetan cuisine made with dri cheese (or sometimes Parmesan or other hard cheeses), brown sugar (usually porang) and unsalted sweet cream butter
Tu – a cheese cake, made with yak butter, brown sugar and water, made into a pastry.[3]
Thukpa – a noodle soup that originated in the eastern part of Tibet. Thupka has been described as a "generic Tibetan word for any soup or stew combined with noodles."[13]
Bhakthuk – a common Tibetan cuisine noodle soup that includes small bhasta noodles[14]
Tsam-thuk – prepared with yak or sheep soup stock and tsampa (roasted barley flour) as well as a variety of Tibetan cheeses
^"'Ara', a distilled liquor extracted from rice or millet is used in the colder regions of the ..."[6]
^"Guthuk is a special dish prepared for the Losar celebration. In it are dumplings that contain omens: a pebble symbolizes a long, healthy life; cayenne pepper suggests that the individual has a temperamental personality; a piece of charcoal ..."[12]