I’ve been asked before how it is that I find my recipes or if there is a method I used to determine which dish to make from a country when there are so many options. Sometimes I start with looking at what the national dish is, or I’ll go with what I enjoy and look for dishes in that vein (if I’m craving a fish stew, for example).

For Bhutan, I ended up going with the National Dish – Ema Datshi. Is it a dip or is it a soup? Depending on the recipes you look up, it could go either way. But I served this as a dip along with pita chips. I was surprised at how mild this dip was given the number of serrano peppers, but the farmers cheese (I used goat) seemed to temper it. This was a nice dip to have for the start of a dinner with visiting family which included some of my favorite African dishes.

The recipe I used is from the site below:

Bhutanese Ema Datshi Recipe | The Easiest Way | National Food of Bhutan

Overall Level of Effort: 1

Skill Level: Beginner

Would Make it Again? No

Additional Notes: I used serrano peppers but I think traditionally this uses extremely hot red peppers, which might explain why the end result for me didn’t have too much heat.