Happy Laphing

It was quite by accident that we found our homestay in Happy Valley, Mussoorie, just a stone’s throw from Dalai Hills and the Shedup Choephelling Buddhist Temple. This is where the Dalai Lama consecrated his first Tibetan temple in India, and on the way up you pass the first Tibetan school in the country. The complex even has a room reserved for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The entire place feels serene and peaceful. In Dehradun, we visited the more modern Mindrolling Monastery, which carried the same quiet aura and dignified ambience.

The Shedup Choephelling Monastery

The Stupa at Mindrolling Monastery

Our monastery visits were inextricably linked with an equally immersive experience of Tibetan food. Until then, our association with Tibetan cuisine had been limited to thukpa and momos. This trip opened up our taste buds to other delicate new flavors and dishes.

The first to catch our eye were the many 'Laphing' street food stalls. These soft yellow rolls of happiness looked like open laughing mouths. “Laphing”, though, means cold noodles. The cool, mildly sweet flat noodle rolls give way to a fiery center of minced meat tossed in a spicy sauce.

Laphing

Thereafter, the tongue craves something more nourishing: thentuk. Unlike the more ubiquitous thukpa, thentuk is prepared with flat, uneven squares—or “pulls”—of dough, torn by hand directly into the boiling broth. Both dishes share a similar comforting base of hearty meat or vegetable broth, richly seasoned with garlic, ginger, and warming spices, and loaded with seasonal hill vegetables. But the similarity ends there. The freshly torn noodles and the use of a single type of meat gives thentuk a rustic charm all its own. Thukpa, by comparison, is usually made with more regular ramen-style noodles, often with mixed meats and sometimes topped with an egg.

Thentuk: Less is More

The loaded Thukpa

The food is flavorful, wholesome, and Comfort with a capital C—the culinary equivalent of a warm hug of a loved one on a cold mountain morning, leaving you loaded with happiness and 'laphing' all the way.