Visiting Nepal .com

In a kingdom bordered by countries famed for their food since ancient times, one would expect Nepal to have developed an excellent characteristic cuisine.

“What is Nepali food ?”- Not an unsual question for a first time visitor to Nepal, but, surprisingly. Ofter heard from second or third time visitors as well. For this is a country where more than ninety percent of the people are engaged in agriculture , primarily food production, where food is a focus of nearly every  festival, as offerings to elders or gods. In a kingdom bordered by countries famed for their food since ancient times, one would expect Nepal to have developed an excellent characteristic cuisine.

It has, but to be fair, perhaps the question should be rephrased” “What is Nepali ?” Try it . Ask a Nepali and you will find there in lies the difficulty of defining Nepali food.

For in Nepali there are at least thirty-five different ethnic groups, with distinctive languges, dress,  customs and, to a degree, cuisine. Admittedly, a daily diet is often determined by ingenuity and environment . In remote areas, there is little choice: you eat what you grow. The Sherpas eat potatoes two or three times a day, plain, boiled by the heaping plateful, in tasty stews (shakpa), as hefty pancakes (alu roti),  as dumplings in soup (rhil doke) or just mashed and spiced. Considering that the potato are now as inseparable as…. well, rice and curry.

Nepal’s hill and lowland dwellers, particularly of the Kathmandu Valley, subsist on daal bhaat tarkaari: rice (bhaat) with daal ( thick lentil soup), and tarkaari (vegetable curries). As Nepal’s most widely eaten food, it is closest to being the national dish. A day without dall bhaat is considered incomplete in many Kathmandu households. The common mid-day greeting among Valley neighbors after “Hellow, how are you ? is “Bhaat Khayo ?” or “Have ou eaten rice ?”

As redundant as daal bhaat may seem to the trekker lunching and suppering on it for weeks on end, there is much variety in its ingredients and ample variation in its preparation, A typical family meal in a middle class Kathmandu home would include tarkaari – autumn season favors beans, green peas, carrots, squashes, etc. – each flavored with different combination of ginger, garlic, onions, chilis, cumin, fenugreek, coriander, mustard seed, turmetic and masala, a mixed spice concoction, slightly sweetened with cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. Daal comes in more than a dozen varieties: black, green, yellow, red and as various small dried beans that are cooked into a thick soup with some of the above seasoning. Rice, commonly and preferably white (though red and brown are eaten in the hill areas), is steamed and served in gargantuan portions.

Nepalis love spice and make some delicious achaars, relished or pickled vegetables such as tomatos, peas, radishes or cucumbers seasoned with lots of garlic, chillis, salt and spices.  Sometimes ground roasted seeds or dried fish are added. Achaars come salty, sour, sweet or tangy, all big flavour such that just a spoonful is needed with the meal. Daal Bhaat, is commonly eaten with the right hand rather than utensils even in the most elite circles.

Meat is eaten widely, and in abundance on special occasions such as Dashain and Tihar  festivals. It is usually cut into small pieces and cooked in a curry flavored gravy, or fried with chillis. Chicken, buff )water buffalo), pork, mutton (goat) or fish are available fresh in Kathmanu, but are slaughtered on special occasion in hill communities. Because of the Hindu prohibition on killing cows, consumption of beef is strictly illegal.

A variation on daal bhaat tarkaari common among Newars, one of the oldest of Kathmandu inhabitants, is chiura : dried beaten rice, served with an array of meat and vegetable curries and achaars.

Outside of the Kathmandu Valley where the variety of vegetables and ingredients is much less, diets are simpler. Chapatis, unleaved bread,  is common in the Terai, with tarkaari and daal . Above 3000 meters, of altitudes, corn , millet, buckwheat. Barley and wheat take over as staples. The everyday lunc and dinner of many hill villagers is dhindo, a thick mush of boiled ground grains, doctored up with a soupy vegetable sauce of the ubiquitous Nepal saag (spinach), gundruk (dried and fermented vegetable leavessss) or sisnu (nettles). In far west, hill dwellers subsist on heavy bread  made from a crud brown wheat or buckwheat.

Barley, potatoes, dairy products and a few hardy vegetables fuel the highest Himalayan settlers of Nepal. Yes, and an occasional yak steak. Traders to Tibet cross 6000 meter passes carrying little more than dry tsampa (roasted fine ground grains ) to mix with butter tea, and perhaps some dried cheese (churpi) or meat. If you ‘re up in the Khumbu, Langtang or Manang/Jomsom areas, be sure to try some tsampa, You can also buy it in Kathmandu’s Asan bazaar. The delicious, nutty flavor and nutritious, hight – energy content making it an ideal trekking food. You may have less success in downing a cup of off most Westerners and even Nepali lowlanders.

Daal bhaat : One is not enough, as each cook makes it differently from day  to day. Be sure to try some achaar to et the true flavor, Nepali style. Many Kathamandu restaurants and hotels prepare daal bhaat for their Nepali customers, so even if it’s not posted on the menu, it’s often available for the asking.

Chapatis : Wheat or rice flour flat-breads make a nite alternative or accompaniment to bhaat. At home or on the trail, they can be filled with daal, tarkaari, meat, cheese or even peanut butter and jelly.

Alu daam, kerau, chiura :
Spicy potato salad, dried peas in sauce and beaten rice are popular afternoon snacks, taken with chiyas (sweet milk tea).

Sukuti ( fried dried meat), Choila (roasted meat with hut red chillis) , kukhurako masu (chicken pieces cooked in curry spices) or momo (Tibetan meat filled dough  bundles steamed and served with chili tomato sauce), are favorite hors d’ oeuves with rakshi (distilled liquor), chang (fermented rice or millet drink) are full of little “hotels” or cates where these delicacies and drinks can be tried for just a few rupees. No sign are posted so best ask a Nepali acquaintance for directions. Heath conditions may not be up to standard so take it slowly; let your stomach adjust to Nepal’s water and food before venturing into these smaller snack shops.

You need not risk contracting the travellers’ bug to try Nepali food, though, Of course the best way to sample the real local fare is to eat in a Nepali home. But if you do not find yourself an invited guest, try asking your hotel chef to prepare an authentic home style Nepali meal for you. Be  sure to mention the degree of spiciness you can be quite fiery. Then, dig in – with your right  hand if you want the true effect and enjoy at least one Nepali’s version of his or her homeland’s cooking.