Gyurma is the herders' blood sausage of the Tibetan plateau, most at home in the pastoral Kham and Amdo regions and made at the autumn and early-winter slaughter. On a high-altitude diet of yak, sheep and dairy with few vegetables, a slaughtered animal is used whole: the blood becomes gyurma and the meat a sausage, the pair often served together as rich, warming fuel against the cold. The dish travels with Tibetan culture across the Himalayan rim to Ladakh, Sikkim, Bhutan and Nepal.
Dense and softly crumbling, with a deep mineral, almost liver-like richness mellowed by the toasty barley. Sliced and crisped at the edge it turns savory and faintly smoky, best with a dab of fiery sepen.
Blood proteins coagulate and set the sausage when poached gently, while barley flour absorbs liquid and lightens the texture so it does not turn rubbery. Keeping the water below a boil prevents the casings from bursting.
Variations
yak blood vs sheep blood, with rice instead of tsampa, pan-fried slices, served in soup, spicier with extra chili
On the Palate
Where Gyurma sits in the Tibetan flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
8 steps · 45 min
- 110 min
Rinse the intestine casings thoroughly inside and out and keep ready.
- 26 min
Mix fresh blood with roasted barley flour or cooked rice until evenly blended.
- 34 min
Season the mixture with salt, chopped onion, ginger and a little ground spice.
- 410 min
Spoon or funnel the filling loosely into the casings, leaving room to expand.
Watch outFill the casings only loosely — the barley flour swells as it cooks, and a tightly packed link will split.
- 56 min
Tie off the sausages into links and prick them lightly to vent steam.
- 63 min
Lower the links into barely simmering water, keeping it below a hard boil.
Watch outKeep the water at a bare shiver, never a rolling boil — a hard boil bursts the casings before the blood sets.
- 725 min
Poach gently until set and firm and no longer bleeding when pricked.
Watch outDone when a pricked link runs clear, not red — the blood has coagulated and firmed up.
- 84 min
Lift out, slice into rounds and serve warm, sometimes pan-crisped.
