tsampa in tsydney

July 4, 2007 6:45 AM

where can i get tsampa in sydney?

or failing that, how can i make it myself? the roasted flour, that is, not the porridgey dishy things.

"he who must obey" is tibetan, so can do that part hisself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsampa

i'm happy to do the postal thang too if necessary. but i gather that it would be easiest to source it locally.

normally i'd ask the tibetan community for this kind of info... but they seem to get it from tibet/dharamsala.... and it is a major pain in the bum to get a hold of. not to mention, expensive.

"he who must obey" is getting all nostalgic for mum's cooking... so it's time to rock some tsampa.

if it's just roasted barley flour... and i end up having to create it from barley.... would one roast the barley, then turn it to flour, or get barley flour, then roast the flour? (told you i knew nothin'!) and if i have to turn something in to flour... how do i do that? and if i have to roast barley... how do i do THAT?

sorry to be so verbose but you really need to fully comprehend my ignorance... and explain everything in idiotic detail. i have an oven and a convection microwave... and a little food processory thing.
thanks folks, you rock...(in advance)


oh crud... did i mention that i was in sydneyland australia?

posted by taff to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

Never done it myself, but I studied Tibetan at university and we read the Milarepa. There's a scene in that where his mum's roasting the barley by stirring it with a whisk in a big flat-bottomed iron pan. Then you grind. I would think that would be do-able at home, but always understood the key was getting the right Tibetan highland barley (called 青稞 qingke in Chinese). I bet that won't be easy in Oz.
posted by Abiezer at 7:25 AM on July 4, 2007

Um, a bit of a long shot, but there are a few shops that cater to wankers run by Simon Johnson (Jonson? Johnstone?) under the name of The Essential Ingredient. You might try there.

(not calling you a wanker, by the way. the clientele were more the SMH Good Living set, who have been conned into the kind of thinking that only genuine Kazakhastani horse-milk fetta will work in this particular baby bok choi and wasabi jus aioili provencal salad with Ligurian extra virgin balsamic herrings. tsampa might not exist on their radar, but the shop claimed to source all the difficult-to-find ingredients...)
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:31 PM on July 4, 2007

Seconding The Essential Ingredient. However, you might also want to check out the Thai Kee supermarkets around the place - I recommend Market City in Darling Harbour/Chinatown. I haven't seen tsampa for sale (wasn't looking for it) but they have a huge range of otherwise hard-to-find things and I've seen Buddhist nuns and monks shopping there.
posted by ninazer0 at 8:24 PM on July 4, 2007

ninazer0's got it. The Thai Kee supermarket in Chinatown is huge & caters for a mostly Asian clientele - surprise! - and the food is arranged in aisles according to country / cuisine. I'm guessing that Tsampa is not confined to Tibet, but eaten also in China, which is kinda the same thing, so it might be mixed in with the Chinese food.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:40 PM on July 4, 2007

My husband has also suggested perhaps phoning the Tibetan/Northern Indian restaurant in Glebe called "The Yak & Yeti". It's family run - they may be able to steer you in the right direction.

Good luck.
posted by ninazer0 at 2:29 AM on July 5, 2007