Hoentay
Bhutan · South Asia
Hoentay are Bhutanese dumplings associated with the Haa Valley. Their buckwheat wrappers enclose fillings such as turnip leaves or spinach with fresh cheese. Ginger, onion and amaranth seeds, known locally as zimtse, can also be included. They are steamed or fried and served with ezay chili sauce.[1][2]
Families in Haa and Paro prepare hoentay for Lomba, a celebration of the New Year and the end of the harvest season. Large batches are shared with friends and neighbors. Mustard oil is used in making them; households in Haa prepare for the festival by extracting oil from their mustard seeds.[1][3]
References
Sources checked:
- Food and Drink in Bhutan — Trans-Bhutan Trail
- Bhutanese Food — Momos, Hoentay and Jasha Maru — Mark Wiens / Migrationology
- Non-functional oil expeller forces Haa villagers to extract mustard oil in Paro — Karma Samten Wangda / Bhutan Broadcasting Service
image credit
AI-generated depiction of the dish.
- creator:
- Gochizu / OpenAI
- source:
- OpenAI image generation
- license:
- OpenAI Terms of Use
- modified:
- AI-generated depiction; resized and re-encoded for Gochizu.
audio credit
- voice:
- marin (gpt-4o-mini-tts)
- source:
- OpenAI API Text to Speech
- license:
- OpenAI API generated audio
- modified:
- AI-generated voice audio.