The Tibetan Thukpa Recipe is prepared with various delicious ingredients.
This soup will lighten up your mood and help you find inner peace after a long day.
What is Thukpa?
Thukpa is a Tibetan soup made of noodles, vegetables and sometimes a protein.
The soup is a wholesome meal in itself. Tibetans eat it to keep them self warm.
The ingredient includes usually what the people in the Himalayas can get and depends heavily on the seasons.
For example, Tibetans eat mainly vegetables in the spring and summer months. In the winter they switch to adding mainly meat, such as mutton, to their thukpa soups.
In time, thukpa variations have cropped up and most Tibetan households have their own approach to this delicious noodle soup.
How we discovered the Thukpa soup
I learned about the thukpa soup for the first time from my husband.
He is a tremendous thukpa fan since he had worked in a restaurant in North India, situated in a typical adventure traveler spot near Manali in Himachal Pradesh.
Tibetans are an ethnic minority who settled in Himachal Pradesh in the Indian Himalayas.
They are considered refugees from Tibet, as they left when China took over Tibet.
We lived with Tibetan families in villages in Spiti Valley, such as in Nako village, and that’s when we encountered the best Tibetan food ever.
We traveled there in June, so the Thukpas were made with vegetables. Meat was not added.
Tibetan Food
I can vouch for two gorgeous Tibetan dishes, which will turn you into an instant fan after the first bite.
One is the all famous Momo dumplings, which are usually steamed (or sometimes fried too and stuffed with veggies, yak meat, chicken or prawns. I have 6 amazing Momo recipes here.
Second in place is the thukpa soup which is a warming soup, especially during cold winter days.
We also fell in love with Butter Tea which is really great when you travel in the himalayas as it revitalizes you. Let me warn you, not everyone enjoys a butter tea.
If you want to know more about Tibetan food, then I recommend this Tibetan cookbook.
Tibetan Thukpa Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon Oil
- 1 Onion sliced
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic *see Notes
- 1 small Carrot cut small
- 7 ounces Potatoes diced
- 12 piece Mushrooms optional, sliced
- 7 ounces Protein of your choice Chicken or Mutton
- 1 Green Chili Pepper optional
- 2 Tablespoon Tomato Paste
- 3 cups Water
- Salt to taste
- Black Pepper
- 7 ounces Lo Mein Noodles Asian egg noodles
- Spinach handful roughly cut
- 3 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
- Juice of one lime
- 1 Green Onions stalk aka spring onion, chopped, to garnish
Instructions
- Add the Oil to a pan and fry your Onion soft and translucent. Add 1 Tablespoon of Ginger Garlic paste and stir fry quickly. Add your cut carrot pieces to the pan and stir fry for 2 minutes.
- Then add the mushroom, potato and the protein of your choice, stir fry and cook for 2 minutes on medium heat. Then throw in the cut green chili and add the tomato paste. Mix the whole content.
- Pour in the water and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the potato and carrot pieces are soft. In the meantime prepare a pot with water, let it boil and add the egg noodles.
- Now add the Spinach and noodles, mix well and cook for about 4 more minutes. Remove from the heat and add the soy sauce and lemon juice. Mix very well and gobble the soup over into in the soup bowls.
- Garnish with chopped green onion stalks and serve hot.
Notes
- Use fresh ginger and garlic finely chopped (ratio 1:2) or use ginger and garlic paste.
- You can also use tofu or skip the protein all together to make this soup vegetarian or vegan (switch egg noodles with regular ones)
- Don’t use seafood as a protein because that wouldn’t make it Tibetan.
Nutrition
More Asian Noodle Soups
- Spicy Thai Noodle Soup
- Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup
- Yat Gaw Mein (Creole Chinese style noodle soup)
Dear reader, do you enjoy Tibetan food?
Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas with us in the comment section further below!
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I have never heard of or had thukpa…live and learn..The chicken noodle soup looks very warming and tasty.
I have never had Tibetan food, but I love the flavours in your recipe. Your soup looks delicious. Hoping to give the recipe a try soon!
I’ve never tried Tibetan food before, but this soup has all of my favorite ingredients, so I’m sure I will love it and that it will perfectly lighten my mood!
This dish looks healthy but hearty too! Feel like a bowl of this now
I never heard of Thupka before. This is new for me. I am sure this is a great comfort food for these cold days.
I love soup and I swore this year I would try as many different kinds as I can. This is it!! Looks delicious and I really want to try different cuisines. It certainly looks hearty but filled with good ingredients. Looking forward to trying it.
I’ve not had this. Sounds so flavorful! Love to try new things — thanks for the intro to Thukpa !
Now that a hardy bowl of noodles! This looks SO good and the perfect bowl of goodness to keep the chill off. Thanks Helene!
Well u can all have amazing and different food in India.. Thukpa.. N many more
Yes that’s the beauty of India, the different culture and food dishes. It’s so rich in dish variations!
This soup sounds perfect for the cold winter nights. I love the addition of soy sauce and lemon! We usually use that mixture to dip gyozas (japanese dumplings)
I never heard of Thupka before. I am a big fan of a good, hearty soup! It looks delish!
I have never heard of this before. I love trying new things. Looks delicious.
I love noodle soup! This looks delicious!!
I’ve never heard of Thukpa before, but reading through the ingredients/prep I reckon it’s something I would LOVE! Thanks for sharing another tasty recipe Helene!