Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Kewa Datshi
Bhutan comfort food: sliced potatoes simmered with green chilies and melted farmer cheese into a creamy stew.
Bhutanese · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 25 min
~492 cal · 20g protein · 43g carbs · 27g fat · 6g fiber · 4g sugars · 13g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Kewa datshi means simply potato and cheese, and alongside ema datshi it defines everyday Bhutanese cooking. Sliced potatoes are simmered with onion, tomato and plenty of green chilies, then finished with crumbled local datshi that melts into a loose, creamy sauce.
Milder than most Bhutanese dishes, it is often the gateway dish for visitors, spooned generously over Bhutan red rice. Cooks in Thimphu adjust the chili to taste, but the soft potatoes and molten cheese stay the constant heart of it.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
5 medium potatoes, sliced
4 green chilies, slit
1 onion, sliced
1 tomato, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup fresh farmer cheese, crumbled
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup water
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Put the sliced potatoes, oil, salt and water in a pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2
Add the chilies, onion and tomato and cook until the potatoes are almost tender, about 12 minutes, adding a splash more water if it dries out.
3
Stir in the garlic and cook a couple of minutes more until fragrant.
4
Reduce the heat to low, scatter the crumbled cheese over the top, cover, and let it melt for 3 to 4 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Stir gently once the cheese softens so it coats the potatoes without breaking them up.
5
Fold everything together into a loose creamy sauce, check the salt, and serve hot with red or white rice.
Thimphu home kitchen.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Thimphu. Red rice is the grain at this altitude, a short husked grain that cooks softer and stickier than white and tints the whole plate. Butter tea, churned with salt instead of sugar, works as a hot drink and a broth at the same time, and dried meat hangs through the winter because nothing is growing.
🗺️
Bhutan. Bhutanese cuisine is fiercely chili-loving, and its national dish, ema datshi, is simply chilies stewed in cheese. Red rice, buckwheat, and yak dairy sustain life in the high Himalayas.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Bhutan
Ema DatshiBhutan’s national dish: green chilies stewed as the vegetable, not the seasoning, in a silky cheese sauce.
Khur-leRustic buckwheat pancakes from the Bhutanese highlands, eaten with chili-cheese ezay.
Jasha MarooA soupy, spicy minced-chicken stew with tomato, ginger, and coriander, a warming everyday Bhutanese dish.
Browse all Bhutan recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Bhutan meal
Suja (Butter Tea)Drink
KhabzeyDessert
Jasha MarooLunch
Similar dishes from around the world
LobioGeorgia
Mukimo (Mashed Greens, Maize and Potatoes)Kenya
Aloo Tama Bodi (Potato, Bamboo Shoot and Black-Eyed Bean Curry)Nepal
CambuuloSomalia
Jani me FasuleAlbania
DarabaChad
Cuisine
Diet
Vegetarian Recipes from Around the World
Gluten-Free Recipes from Around the World
Nut-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Vegetarian Dinners from Around the World
Gluten-Free Dinners from Around the World
Nut-Free Dinners from Around the World
Egg-Free Dinners from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Kewa Datshi?
Bhutan comfort food: sliced potatoes simmered with green chilies and melted farmer cheese into a creamy stew.
Where does Kewa Datshi come from?
Kewa Datshi is a Bhutanese dish from Thimphu, Bhutan.
Can Kewa Datshi be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kewa Datshi recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kewa Datshi safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Kewa Datshi take to make?
About 40 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.