What is the Famous Food of Ladakh?

It contains saffron and cinnamon that help keep the body warm. If you are planning to buy Qahwa to take back home, the local grocery shops stock only two brands: King’s and Kanwal. These are ready to make Qahwa powder brands.

Do note that some places feel that the cheese smells a bit Yak-ish, though I did not feel it. But when in Leh, you just cannot afford to miss this!

MOKTHUK:
This brings together two of our favourite elements of mountain food, momos and soup. Its essentially momos in soup. With added vegetables, spices and love and it makes for one delicious concoction!

This is a kind of bun, which is very unlike what we know as Kulcha in North India. It is a hard bun that the locals eat with qahwa or tea.

Tigmo (pronounced Teemo)
We did not go looking for this dish, unlike the Chhupri. We just went into a local restaurant in Leh main market, asked for a local dish and were offered the “Tigmo”. It is a form of fermented and steamed bread, served with a veg/non-veg stew.

The langar served at Gurudwara Pathar Sahib is food for the soul. I have never had such tasty rajma in my life. The most amazing thing is that the Gurudwara cooks in such huge volumes and still manages to keep it so homely.

SKYU:
Skyu is a traditional soup dish of Ladakhis and almost a daily meal for people here. Soft wheat dough is kneaded into thumb sized balls and cooked with meat and vegetable stew. Root vegetable like turnips, carrots and potatoes are used in its preparation. It helps beats the cold and keeps the body warm when the temperature goes to -20 to -30 degrees. Yummy and delicious by it self, it is usually an accompanied with dumplings or momos

The bread itself is very soft and fluffy and goes very well with the lightly flavoured stew.

Skyu: A traditional dish of Ladakh, this food preparation is made of kneaded thumb sized wheat flour dough. Cooked mainly with water, it is served with meat or vegetables. Khambir: The traditional bread of Ladakh is known as Khambir. Shaped like a pan, this bread is served mostly with the traditional butter tea

We saw numerous army trucks lined up outside the Gurudwara and army men kept pouring in during lunch hour. It looked as if they routinely came here for lunch.

CHHUPRI OR YAK CHEESE:
A Himalayan delicacy, its made by adding lime and other citrus fruits to Yak milk and it is churned. A tedious process, but the end result is a this yummy cheese. You can find it in local bakeries, have it laced in your momos, have it with crackers, or just ask them to give you a bit to taste. The taste can be called an “acquired taste”.

Although we went in for a snack, repeat orders of the delicious Tigmo converted it to a full dinner.

Mouth-watering eh? Leh has some amazing stay options too, in case you are eager to pay a visit and try the Ladakhi cuisine yourself. Do plan a trip soon. Life, as we know it, is very short, and the more you travel, the better.

Thukpa: This lip-smacking delicacy mainly contains pieces of flour or noodles, in a soup which mostly contains vegetables, but may sometime also have pieces of chicken added to it. This piping hot soup is eaten by our Ladakhi folks mainly to cut out the extremely cold temperatures experienced in Leh and Ladakh.

BUTTER TEA & CHAANG:
Tickle your taste-buds with a fuzzy and melty butter tea, made from green tea leaves, yak butter and salt. Don’t let the sound of this weird concussion fool you as it is plenty delicious and a perfect warm for your throat.

Momos
It is a crime to not taste momos while you are in Leh. The momos are available in various shapes, one of which according to our driver is shaped like a rat.

Chang: This indigenous brew of Ladakh, is prepared by fermenting miller with yeast in a cylindrical porcelain pot. The preparation is topped with warm water, till the miller looses its strength. The liquid thus obtained is called Chang.

Thukpa
It is a Tibetan soup. Due to the Tibetan influence in Leh, Thukpa is quite popular in Leh.

Butter Tea: This signature tea of Ladakh is mainly prepared by adding and stirring butter and salt to boiling milk.

Skyu: A traditional dish of Ladakh, this food preparation is made of kneaded thumb sized wheat flour dough. Cooked mainly with water, it is served with meat or vegetables.

It is a clear soup with lots of vegetables. Comfort food for cold temperatures of Leh.

SEABUCKTHORNE JUICE:
The seabuckthorne bush was previously used only for fencing, when quite recently the properties of these “leh berries” were discovered. Now they make for some yummy juice, up in the mountains. They have two bottling plants in Nubra and one in Leh. Rich in an Omega 7 fatty acid called palmitoleic acid, sea buckthorn is particularly beneficial for the skin, nourishing and moisturizing from the inside out.

This a version of the Thukpa. In addition to the vegetables this soup consists of noodles as well.

Khambir: The traditional bread of Ladakh is known as Khambir. Shaped like a pan, this bread is served mostly with the traditional butter tea.

In cold temperatures, you would love to gorge on hot soups and this variation is quite good.