🇧🇹 Bhutanese Cuisine

Ara

Bhutanese Rice Wine

Prep Time 7 days fermentation

Servings 6

Difficulty Hard

A warm, milky-white traditional Bhutanese rice wine with a subtle sweetness and gentle alcohol content, often infused with fried egg for celebrations.

Ingredients

4 cups glutinous rice
Yeast cake (phab) or wine yeast
Water
Fried egg (optional, for serving)
Butter pat (optional, for serving)

Instructions

1 Cook glutinous rice until tender. Spread on a clean surface to cool to body temperature.
2 Crumble yeast cake and mix evenly into cooled rice.
3 Pack the mixture into a clean fermentation vessel. Cover tightly.
4 Ferment in a warm place for 5-7 days until liquid separates and smells mildly alcoholic.
5 Strain through a cloth to separate the liquid. Warm gently before serving.
6 Traditionally, crack a fried egg into the warm ara and add a pat of butter for celebrations.

Did You Know?

At Bhutanese weddings, guests are greeted with three cups of ara — refusing is considered deeply impolite.