Bhutan Unit

When we look at Asia, we don’t think there are tons of countries there, because we see the massive expanse that is Russia, India, and China. So, it always surprises me when I find a relatively small country like Bhutan. It’s not anywhere near as small as many of the countries in Europe, but it still seems small when compared with India that is almost right next door. All in all, it was a fun geography lesson for our Asia Unit.

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Bhutan Resources

With Bhutan being a relatively unknown country, and one that doesn’t have as much tourism as you might expect (more on that in fun facts). There are not any books about it in my library, so instead I give you what I found on the internet:

• 27 Interesting Facts about Bhutan
• 10 Interesting Facts about Bhutan
• 23 Bhutan Facts– these apparently aren’t interesting

Bhutan unit recipe: momos

Bhutan recipe: momos

When I was researching Bhutan recipes, I discovered they like their spicy food, and I knew this was going to be a struggle to find a good recipe. After scrolling through idea after idea mentioning spicy chiles, and knowing that wouldn’t work I found momos.

Usually, I would have skipped over momos because they originated in India and then came over through Nepal, but it was the first recipe I found that the kids might like. I picked out a momo recipe, but thoroughly modified it, and then I cheated just a bit more because when we studied Singapore I had picked up dumpling dough pre-made, and it’s been sitting in my freezer for years. The original recipe was vegetarian, but I added ground turkey to get a bit more flavor people like.

Bhutan ingredients

• pre-made dumpling wrappers
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 scallions chopped
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 cup chopped white button mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• salt as needed

Time to make delicious momos

1. Roughly chop the vegetables and then load it all up into the food processor. This allows everything to nicely mix together.
2. Heat oil in skillet, and then cook the mix. As it cooks add the soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Let stuffing mixture cool.
3. In the middle of the dumplings put 2-3 teaspoons of the mixture.
4. Dip your finger in the water, and run it along the edges, then carefully fold the wrapper over and press to seal.*
5. Heat a pan with a small amount of oil and then cook your dumplings momos. Cook for a minute or two, then flip to the other side (in the original recipe, the dumplings were steamed, but we prefer cooked in just a little bit of oil).

* Bhutan folds them in a different way, but I was not able to imitate their style well.

Bhutan Momos

Print

Bhutan momos make a great appetizer or if you eat enough of them a full meal.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 6 minutes

Total Time 6 minutes

Ingredients

• pre-made dumpling wrappers
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 scallions chopped
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 cup chopped white button mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• salt as needed

Instructions

1. Roughly chop the vegetables and then load it all up into the food processor. This allows everything to nicely mix together.
2. Heat oil in skillet, and then cook the mix. As it cooks add the soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Let stuffing mixture cool.
3. In the middle of the dumplings put 2-3 teaspoons of the mixture.
4. Dip your finger in the water, and run it along the edges, then carefully fold the wrapper over and press to seal.
5. Heat a pan with a small amount of oil and then cook your momos. Cook for a minute or two, then flip to the other side.

Bhutan Unit: notebooking pages

We filled out the Asia notebooking pages for Bhutan, and here were the things that particularly stood out to me.

• There is a $250 daily tariff to visit Bhutan, but this includes a personal tour guide and a hotel
• They have a barking deer with fangs
• The entire country has no traffic lights
• There was no TV until 1999! They also didn’t allow anyone in really until somewhere in the 1970s

More great learning fun

• Dealing with being judges as a parent
• Snow Science
• Twelfth Night book club
• Florida Everglades lesson
• Great Depression dice game

• “Buddha perspective, Thimphu, Bhutan” by Michael Foley Photography is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
• “Local Man Keeps Bhutan’s River Immaculate” by United Nations Photo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.