Khumbu Trail Classic · Hand-Pulled Noodle Soup

Thukpa

Photo: Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Its name comes from a Tibetan word that simply means 'soup' or 'stew with noodles' — and depending on how the noodles are shaped, the same bowl can go by four or more different names, like thenthuk (hand-pulled) or gyathuk (Chinese-style).

Thukpa is a noodle soup built on a simmered meat or vegetable broth, with noodles ranging from hand-pulled ribbons to small pinched dumplings. Teahouses along Everest-region trekking trails serve it thick with vegetables, egg and often chili, as a filling, warming meal at altitude.

Why it's made this way: The dish traveled into Nepal's high Himalayan valleys from eastern Tibet, and it became a Sherpa staple because a hot, dense bowl of noodles and broth is exactly what the cold, thin air at Khumbu altitudes calls for.