Tongba — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

A traditional warm fermented millet beverage served in a tall wooden or bamboo container with a bamboo straw. Hot water is poured over fermented millet and sipped slowly, with refills added as the flavor remains.

Ingredients

500g fermented millet (prepared with marcha yeast)
Boiling water as needed
Marcha yeast for fermentation (if making from scratch)
Finger millet grains

Instructions

1 If starting from scratch, cook finger millet until tender, cool to lukewarm, mix with crushed marcha yeast, and ferment in a sealed container for seven to fourteen days.
2 Place the fermented millet into a tall tongba vessel, filling it about two-thirds full.
3 Pour boiling water over the millet to the brim of the container.
4 Insert a bamboo straw with a filtered tip to prevent millet grains from being sucked up. Let it steep for five minutes.
5 Sip slowly through the straw. As the liquid reduces, add more hot water. A good batch can be refilled four to five times.

Did You Know?

A single serving of tongba millet can be refilled with hot water up to five times before the flavor diminishes, making it one of the most economical and social drinks in the Himalayan region.