Phaksha Paa

Bhutanese pork belly simmered with dried red chillies and white radish until the fat softens and the broth turns fierce

Origin: Thimphu & the Bhutanese Himalaya

From the journey of Chilli Pepper.

Phaksha is pork and paa is the word for a dish of sliced meat cooked with chillies, and between them they describe most of what happens: pork belly cut into broad strips, simmered with a great many dried red chillies, and given body by white radish cut into wedges. It is the winter counterpart to ema datshi, and where that dish is fresh green chillies and cheese, this one is dried red chillies and fat. The dried chilli is a seasonal necessity turned into a flavour. Bhutan sun-dries its summer crop on rooftops and balconies through the autumn, and from those strings comes the deeper, smokier, less grassy heat that runs through the country's cold-weather cooking. Fresh and dried are not treated as interchangeable, and a Bhutanese cook asked to make phaksha paa with green chillies would consider it a different dish. The radish earns its place by what it does to the fat. Pork belly simmered on its own gives a heavy broth; the radish absorbs a good deal of that richness, softens to translucency, and returns a clean sweetness that cuts through. Turnip is used interchangeably in the higher valleys, and dried spinach or river weed replaces both in some households. It is a plain, unfussy dish, cooked in one pot with no browning and very few ingredients, and it belongs to a kitchen at altitude where fuel is worth conserving and fat is worth eating. It is served with red rice and with more chillies on the side, in case anyone finds it mild.

Ingredients

Stew

  • 700 g pork belly, skin on, in broad strips 1cm thick
  • 20 dried red chillies, stems removed, halved
  • 1 large white radish (mooli), in thick wedges
  • 1 onion, thickly sliced
  • 6 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 1 tbsp fresh ginger, sliced
  • 500 ml water
  • 1.5 tsp salt, or to taste

To finish

  • 2 spring onions, sliced, to finish

To serve

  • 4 portions of Bhutanese red rice, to serve

Method

  1. Put the pork, water, onion, garlic, ginger, and salt into a heavy pot. There is no browning step and none is wanted.
  2. Bring to the boil and skim off the grey foam that rises in the first few minutes.
  3. Cover and simmer gently for thirty minutes, until the pork is beginning to soften and has given up a good deal of its fat.
  4. Add the dried chillies whole or halved. Twenty is a Bhutanese quantity; start with eight if you are unsure and add more later.
  5. Simmer uncovered for ten minutes so the chillies soften and colour the broth a deep russet.
  6. Add the radish wedges and cook for a further fifteen to twenty minutes, until they are translucent at the edges and yielding to a knife.
  7. The radish should still hold its shape. Cooked to collapse it muddies the broth and gives up the clean sweetness it is there for.
  8. The liquid should have reduced to a shallow, oily, brick-red broth sitting around the meat rather than covering it.
  9. Taste for salt. The chillies will have released a great deal of heat by now and the pot will taste quite different from how it did at the start.
  10. Scatter the spring onions over and serve with red rice, with extra dried chillies on the table.

Notes

Dried chillies rather than fresh, since the two are not interchangeable here and the smoky depth is the point of the dish. Do not brown the pork: this is a boiled dish, and browning gives a heavier, sweeter result that is not what a Bhutanese kitchen produces. The radish goes in late so it keeps its shape and its sweetness. Skim carefully in the first minutes, because everything after that depends on a broth that is clean under the fat. Turnip is a standard alternative to the radish in the higher valleys, and dried spinach can replace both.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
© 2026 The Gastrographer. All original research, narratives, and illustrations. All rights reserved.