Phaksha Paa

Medium·30 min active + 30 min resting

Bhutanese pork stew with dried red chilies and white radish (or daikon) — fatty pork belly slow-cooked with whole dried chilies, ginger, garlic, and bok choy or radish until the pork is fork-tender and richly glossed in chili oil. The everyday family meal.

Phaksha paa ('paa' meaning 'cooked dish' in Dzongkha) is the universal Bhutanese pork preparation, with the dried-chili-and-radish combination found across all of Bhutan's regions. Pork is the most-common meat in Bhutanese household cooking; fatty cuts are preferred for the rich pork-fat-and-chili-oil sauce.

Pick up a piece of phaksha paa with chopsticks — pork belly glossy with red chili oil, the skin gleaming, the fat translucent at the edges, daikon cubes white among them. Bite: the pork is meltingly tender, fat and lean cooking together into a savory richness; the dried chilies have infused the fat with a slow-building heat that's smokier than fresh chili. The daikon has absorbed the pork fat and is now soft, sweet, balancing the heat. Over red rice with a side of ema datshi, this is the Bhutanese Sunday family lunch.

Pre-boiling and rinsing the pork removes blood and scum, giving a cleaner final sauce. Long simmering converts the connective tissue to gelatin, making the meat fork-tender. Adding the daikon late prevents it from disintegrating. The dried-chili technique is crucial — dried chilies give smokier, deeper heat than fresh, and the pork fat extracts capsaicin to make the signature 'chili oil' sauce.

Variations

Phaksha paa with bamboo shoots (eastern Bhutan). With sikam (smoked dried pork). With turnip instead of radish. Spicy phaksha paa (with fresh + dried chili). Vegetarian 'phaksha paa' with mushroom (Buddhist-monastery version). With green chili added at the end (fresh-heat layer).

On the Palate

Where Phaksha Paa sits in the Bhutanese flavor cloud

Cook to learn

Pre-boil and rinse the pork first, then simmer it long and slow with dried chilies until the fat renders and reduces into a glossy chili-oil sauce that coats the meat — that rendered pork fat carrying the chili heat is the dish.

Techniques

Braising Simmering

Ingredients

Serves 4

600 g pork bellyPork

8-10 dried + 2 greenChili Pepper

How it's made

8 steps · 30 min active + 30 min waiting

1
5 min
Cut 600 g pork belly (skin-on if available) into 3-cm cubes.
2
7 min
In a heavy pot, add the pork with 1 L cold water; bring to a boil, simmer 5 min. Drain and rinse to remove scum.
Watch out
Boil and rinse until the water runs clear of grey scum before starting the real simmer.
3
2 min
Return pork to the pot. Add 8-10 dried red Bhutanese chilies (whole), 4 smashed garlic cloves, 1 thumb sliced ginger, 1 sliced onion, 1 tsp salt, and 500 ml water.
4
38 min
Cover; simmer 35-40 min until the pork is fork-tender. The liquid will reduce significantly; add water if it dries out before the pork is done.
5
16 min
Cut 300 g daikon radish (or white turnip) into 2-cm cubes. Add to the pot in the last 15 min of cooking.
6
5 min
Once pork is tender, uncover and reduce 5 min to thicken the sauce into a glossy chili-oil coating.
Watch out
Uncover and reduce until the liquid tightens into a glossy chili-oil coating that clings to the pork.
7
1 min
Stir in 2 sliced green chilies and 2 tbsp chopped scallions.
8
2 min
Serve hot over Bhutanese red rice with a side of ema datshi.