Ladakh
Paba
A firm dough of roasted barley, wheat and pea flour, everyday food from Ladakh
30 min·3 servings
paba flour (yoches)
Flour made from roasted grains, in the Himalaya usually barley, wheat, millet or buckwheat, often blended. It is not baked but kneaded with hot water, tea or butter into a firm dough.
Paba flour is a flour ground from grains that have been roasted first, closely related to tsampa, the roasted barley flour of Tibet. Depending on the region it is milled from a single grain or from a blend of barley, wheat, millet, maize or buckwheat. Because it is roasted it is already cooked, tastes nutty and mildly sweet of grain, and can be worked straight into a dense, filling dough with liquid, eaten cold or warm. Roasting also makes it absorb liquid faster than raw flour, so it clumps easily if the liquid goes in all at once. It is most likely found in Tibetan or Nepali shops and by mail order; tsampa occasionally turns up in health food shops.
Substitute:
Tsampa comes closest, though it tastes more purely of barley. Alternatively, toast barley, millet or buckwheat flour in a dry pan, stirring constantly, until golden, then let it cool; this matches flavour and behaviour well, only the exact grain blend is left open. Unroasted flour will not do, since it tastes raw and should not be eaten uncooked.
Used in · 1 recipe