Bagthug(བག་ཐུག་), also spelled bhathuk, is a Tibetan soup with small lumps of dough or noodle pieces. Bagthug(བག་ཐུག་) is a contraction of bagtsha(བག་ཚ་), meaning small shell noodles or doughballs, and thugpa(ཐུག་པ), meaning noodle soup.
Bagtsha, also spelled bhatsa, probably originated as small balls of dough, but modern bagtsha is often pressed and curled into small shell shapes, which can hold broth for a better balance of soup and noodle in each bite. These curled noodles resemble cat ear noodles(貓耳朵) of Jin cuisine from northern China as well as cavatelli noodles from Italy.
Bagthug commonly uses bone stock from yak or other animal. Vegetables are not traditionally common in Tibet, but vegetables such as cabbage, celery, and daikon can be grown. Cleaned trimmings from cabbage and celery work well for vegetable stock for bagthug.
Bagtsha are also used to make a sweet dessert called bagtsha markhu(བག་ཚ་མར་ཁུ།) which generally has butter, cheese, and honey added to shell noodles.
Bagtsha(བག་ཚ་) Recipe
30 – 40 pieces
Ingredients
- 2 cup all-purpose wheat flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup water
Directions
- combine flour, salt
- gradually add water until combined into dough
- rest dough 2 to 5 minutes
- knead dough
- rest dough 15 to 30 minutes
- shape and divide into ½ inch balls, dusting with flour to prevent sticking
- press each ball to curl into a shell shape (optional)
Bagthug(བག་ཐུག་) Recipe
4 servings
Ingredients
- 2 clove garlic, minced
- 1 giant scallion or 2 scallion or 1 onion, sliced (greens reserved for garnish)
- 6 cup vegetable stock (boil cabbage and/or celery, water for 30-60 minutes and strain) or water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 daikon or turnip, peeled and chopped
- 1 daikon greens, chopped (optional)
- 30 – 40 pieces bagtsha(བག་ཚ་)
Directions
- saute garlic, scallion
- add stock, salt
- bring to boil
- add daikon
- simmer until daikon is tender, 5 to 10 minutes
- add bagtsha, daikon greens
- simmer 2 to 5 minutes
- garnish with scallion greens
- serve