Destination
Kathmandu
The story
Buff chilli is Kathmandu's iconic Newari-Chinese fusion dish: strips of buffalo meat (buff), wok-fried hard with sliced onion, capsicum and green chilies in a punchy sauce of soy, vinegar, garlic, ginger and a spoon of tomato ketchup, served on a big plate to share, eaten with rice, chiura (beaten rice) or momos on the side. Sold at every Newari and Nepali-Chinese restaurant in Kathmandu — the small ones in Ason and Patan, the bigger ones in Thamel — and made in every Newari household for special occasions and Saturday family lunches. It's the meat dish Kathmandu families order when they want something both traditional (buff, the Newari meat) and modern (the Chinese wok technique).
Method
Toss the meat strips with cornstarch, both soy sauces, pepper and oil. Massage for 30 seconds. Rest 20 minutes at room temperature.
Whisk all sauce ingredients in a small bowl until the cornstarch is dissolved. Set beside the stove.
Have the vegetables cut, sauce mixed, and rice cooked before you touch the wok. Once wok cooking starts, you have 8 minutes, no time for prep.
Heat a wok over the highest heat you have until smoking. Add 3 tbsp oil and swirl.
Add the marinated buff strips in a single layer. Do not stir for 60 seconds — let them sear. Then toss and cook 60 more seconds until deep brown at the edges and just cooked through. Push to one side.
Add the garlic, ginger and green chilies to the empty side. Stir 20 seconds until fragrant. Add the onion wedges, red and green capsicum. Toss 90 seconds — vegetables should stay crisp.
Give the sauce mix a stir (the cornstarch will have settled). Pour into the wok. Toss everything together for 60 seconds until the sauce thickens to a glossy glaze coating meat and vegetables.
Fold in the spring onion lengths. Tip onto a warm platter. Scatter with coriander and (if using) a dust of Timur pepper. Serve immediately with rice or chiura, and lime wedges on the side.
Tips
- Very hot wok. Smoking hot is the target. Anything cooler and the meat stews rather than sears, and the vegetables lose their crunch.
- Cornstarch on the meat. This is the wok chef's trick for a silky-textured stir-fry. It coats the meat so the surface holds moisture during the hard sear, giving you tender-inside, crisp-edged strips.
- Vegetables stay crisp. Ninety seconds in the wok is the max for capsicum and onion. They should be softened at the edges, still crunchy in the middle. Overcooked vegetables give you Nepali-Chinese takeaway of the worst kind.
- Serve immediately. Buff chilli holds only briefly. Ten minutes on the table and the sauce thickens too much, the vegetables sweat, and the meat toughens.
- Buff or beef. Water buffalo has a specific gamey flavour that's hard to find outside Nepal. Beef sirloin or flat iron is the practical substitute; adjust the marinade slightly (add 1 tsp fish sauce for a hint of umami depth).
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