Thukpa Bhathuk

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1. 1Step 1: Chop the beef into smallish bite-size pieces.
2. 2Step 2: Mince the garlic.
3. 3Step 3: Chop the onion.
4. 4Step 4: Boil the beef in 3 cups of water with bouillon, garlic and onion.
5. 5Step 5: When the broth starts to boil, turn down to medium and cook for 20 minutes.
6. 6Step 6: After 20 minutes, turn down to low, and cook for another 30 minutes.
7. 7Step 7: The longer you cook this soup, basically, the better, though 50 minutes is fine.
8. 8Step 8: Peel the daikon (a potato peeler works well) and chop off the two ends.
9. 9Step 9: Chop the daikon into thin, narrow strips about as long as your finger. The strips should be about as thin and narrow as you can make them.
10. 10Step 10: Soak the chopped daikon in water with ~ 1 teaspoon of salt.
11. 11Step 11: Soak for a few minutes, swishing around with your hand.
12. 12Step 12: Rinse well, several times, to get rid of salt and bitterness.
13. 13Step 13: Tibetans say that rinsing like this gets rid of the strong radish smell.
14. 14Step 14: Chop the tomato into smallish pieces.
15. 15Step 15: Finely chop the cilantro.
16. 16Step 16: Chop the green onion.
17. 17Step 17: Roughly chop the spinach (or don’t chop if you like large pieces).
18. 18Step 18: Set all these aside until the soup is almost done.
19. 19Step 19: Slowly add the water to the flour.
20. 20Step 20: Mix to form a smooth ball and then knead a couple of minutes.
21. 21Step 21: This dough does not have to rest after kneading so you can prepare it any time during the cooking process.
22. 22Step 22: First, rub the ball of dough between your hands to make it into a thick tube of dough, and then pinch off pieces of that tube to make 4-5 chunks of dough.
23. 23Step 23: Then rub each piece of dough between your hands to form long, thin ropes of dough.
24. 24Step 24: Pinch off a piece as big as the end of your fingernail, or smaller.
25. 25Step 25: Rub the dough with one finger in the palm of your hand to cause the little piece of dough to curl up (the better to scoop up the juices in the soup). These little scooped pieces of dough are your bhatsa.
26. 26Step 26: Repeat until you’ve used up all your ropes of dough.
27. 27Step 27: You can sprinkle a little flour around the pile of bhatsa, to keep them from sticking together.
28. 28Step 28: Add another 3 cups of water to the soup and bring to a boil.
29. 29Step 29: When soup starts to boil again, add daikon and cook for 2-3 minutes.
30. 30Step 30: Now add all the little pieces of dough — the bhatsa — and cook for another 5 minutes. When cooked the bhatsa will pop up to the surface of the soup.
31. 31Step 31: Add spinach, cilantro, green onion, and tomato, and serve right away. (These final ingredients do not really need to cook, and look nicer if they are fresh looking.)
32. 32Step 32: Best to eat hot!