Thang

This recipe has been excerpted from ‘Stories from a Kargili Kitchen’ (2026) written by Yash Saxena, in collaboration with Sneha Nair and Muzammil Hussain. Blending memoir, travelogue, and cultural history, the book is part love letter and part act of remembrance—a tender, sensory journey through Kargili kitchens, whose flames fight to keep centuries of wisdom alive against the winds of change.

Tucked between some of the most forbidding folds of the Himalayas, Kargil is a land too often seen only through the lens of war—yet its valleys hold a tenderness, resilience, and faith that endure through food.

Born from years of travel, cooking and friendships, foodways researcher Yash Saxena gathers voices from mountain kitchens and firesides—of shepherds, monks, farmers, and mothers who feed a world shaped by both faith and frost. From slow-simmering broths to shifting borderlines, from ancient Bon rituals to the echoes of Bofor gunfire, each story reveals how a community sustains itself through ritual, memory, and the quiet grace of everyday cooking.

Agriculture and cultivation of crops is limited in this cold desert. The people of Kargil have had a long tradition of going up the high mountains to forage for herbs and of using them as medicines and flavouring agents. More often than not, nature’s bounty at high altitudes provides the people with plants that fulfil more than a singular purpose.

Thang is a great example of the local population’s natural wisdom and resourcefulness. The ingredients that go into it are seldom available in the markets, and rather have to be hand-plucked at altitudes of 10,000–15,000 feet. It is also common for people to bring whatever they find high up on the mountains for their friends and family.

Thang is more than just tea. It is a reflection of ecological intimacy, traditional knowledge, and the deep-rooted sustainability embedded in Kargil’s mountain cultures.

Here are some common plants used in making thang, along with their benefits:

• Makshang (Corydalis): Stomach ache and diarrhoea
• Tumburuk (Himalayan thyme): Muscle aches and period pain
• Red Sia (red dog rose): Anti-inflammatory, blood purifier, diuretic, and good for the Kidneys
• White Sia (white dog rose): Cough, cold, and breathlessness (Can use sia flower, root, and bud to make teas)
• Rose hip: Osteoarthritis, hyperpigmentation, believed to increase oestrogen and help with menstruation regulation
• (It is said to have 9–10 times the amount of vitamin C present in lemons. It isobserved that Himalayan brown bears love eating it before going into hibernation)
• Chamomile: Sleep and anxiety
• Filil (wild Himalayan mint): Indigestion and shortness of breath
• Seabuckthorn or sea berry: Antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-hyperlipidaemic
• Dried sea buckthorn leaves: Lowers cholesterol, regulates blood pressure
• Local tarragon (Artemisia kargilensis): Indigestion, treating loss of appetite
• Karpo Usay (wild white mulberry): Cold, cough, and breathlessness
• tSartsing (Russian olive): Anti-pyretic, astringent, anti-ulcer, treating UTIs,
• jaundice and accelerating wound healing.
• Juniper berries with branch and root: Treating UTIs, GI infections, aiding kidney and bladder stone pain

Note: The uses described here reflect traditional knowledge and practices documented in Kargil. They should not be read as medical advice or as claims of clinically proven efficacy.