Week 17: Alpine — Tibetan Chexo
You may be looking at this and thinking: is that literally just white rice? WRONG! It’s basmati rice, yogurt, butter, and salt.
You may also be looking at this and thinking: why the fuck did they make Tibetan food for Alpine week? Well, “alpine” does not solely mean “from the Alps.” I honestly never even considered that when the theme was announced and the discord was lobbying for it. The “alpine tundra” is a biome that sits above the tree line, with an associated cold and harsh “alpine climate.” Basically, there are no trees because it’s too cold. Much of Tibet is alpine.
Tibetan culture, including their cuisine, is often considered endangered (due to what has been called a “cultural genocide”). I was pressed for time, so made a very simple dish, but genuinely want to explore some other Tibetan food, and encourage you to do so as well! I could find very little in-depth information. I skimmed through a bunch of sources in an attempt to find a recipe for chexo — all I knew was that it was yogurt and rice — but the best I could find was in a 2003 book called “Tibetan Customs” by Tao Li & Hongying Jian.
Here is the recipe, and I quote: “Cook rice until it is well down and then mix it with some yogurt.”
I added some salt and butter (unfortunately not yak), as much of the other Tibetan cuisine I saw contained those (I saw a claim that the prevalence of butter is due to a caloric need in such a harsh climate, which is interesting; maybe it’s just tasty though).
Chexo is, I believe, not to be confused with Zhoixo, which I was seeing it used interchangeably with. The aforementioned book claims that zhoixo is cooked ginseng and yogurt, not rice and yogurt.