Bhutan has a wide diversity of traditional culinary recipes. Due to their isolation and dependence on their immediate environments for sustenance, many communities developed food cultures that varied between regions. In western Bhutan, rice was the staple food while those in the south generally ate millet and maize as the main food. In eastern Bhutan, people relied upon corn as the staple crop. In high altitudes such as Bumthang and Haa, bitter buckwheat, sweet buckwheat, wheat, and barley predominated. Due to Bumthang’s central location with exposure to both eastern and western Bhutan and its cultural proximity to Tibet, people there enjoyed a wide range of culinary traditions.
Puta (པུ་ཏ་) is one of the main delicacies of Bumthang district. Made from buckwheat noodles, its accompanying sauce is made up of spring onions, chilies, and eggs fried in oil. Considered a special food, was traditionally made only on special occasions or for special guests. Given the long preparation process and the need for a special noodle machine, most families do not make the puta noodles regularly. Moreover, buckwheat cultivation has dwindled in the past decades since Bhutan began importomg rice from India. This led to buckwheat dishes rarer and more special although buckwheat cultivation has seen a comeback in the past few years.
To make puta, buckwheat flour is first mixed with cold water to make dough. The dough is thoroughly mashed and squeezed to form a supple texture. Lumps of dough are then put into a noodle machine. The traditional puta machine consists of a wooden stand with two legs with a strong base and upper bar. The upper bar is a piece of wood with a square hole in the middle. The base has many pin size holes at the bottom. A second bar is inserted on top of the first bar; it has a square protruding shape which fits into the square hole to push the dough out of the hole when pressed from the top. Using one of the legs as a lever, people sit on the other end of the bar to press the noodles out of the square hole.
After the buckwheat noodles are produced, they are placed in a bamboo strainer in boiling water. Once cooked, the noodles are put in a large bowl. In a separate sauce pan, oil is heated in order to fry spring, onions, and chillies. Eggs are also added to this stir fry unless the intended guests do not eat eggs. Once the sauce is ready, the hot sauce is poured over the noodles in the bowl. The sauce is mixed with the noodles using a wooden prong. Sichuan pepper, salt, and other spices are also added to the noodles. The puta dish is now ready to be served, either as dry puta without adding anything, or as a wet dish by adding milk or buttermilk to it. Small sticks are provided as chopsticks to eat the puta dish.
Too much puta, especially with butter milk, is said to lead to bloating and flatulence in some people. However, puta is considered a delicacy and cherished by many people. The dish’s presence in Bumthang can be traced to at least the early part of the 15th century, where it is mentioned in the biography of Pema Lingpa (1450-1521), the foremost spiritual figure of Bhutan. On the day of nine evils, central Bhutanese eat puta with the belief that evil spirits, who come to harm people on that inauspicious day, would think that people are fiercely gobbling up worms and thus leave them alone. Another folk account has it that the spirits would be annoyed that people irresponsibly blame them for illness after having eaten a bowl of worms.
Whatever the beliefs, puta is today a highly-valued delicacy and served during important events and also forms a special menu for high-end tourists visiting the country. Modern noodle presses are used for making puta, and some people have started to also produce dry puta which can be prepared quickly like Japanese soba.
Karma Phuntsho is a social thinker and worker, the President of the Loden Foundation and the author of many books and articles including The History of Bhutan.