Image based on photograph by Iryna Kuchma

I grew up surrounded by the smells of plethora of Newah dishes, often prepared just for everyday meals. But I lacked passion for food or had any desire of engaging in elaborate Newari cooking. Being the eldest expat family in the United States, many frequented my home – often expecting a home cooked meal. This compelled me to cook dishes from my childhood. Slowly as my cooking evolved, I began adapting Newah cuisine from my childhood to my American-Nepali meals.

Newah Bhoye (Bhoj) is an iconic feast celebrating intimate family gatherings to lavish big weddings.  Newars of the Kathmandu valley are known for their love of good food. There is even a running joke in Nepal that goes like “others ethnic groups may ruin themselves with polygamy, but Newars would ruin themselves just by feasting”. Newah Bhoye showcases Newah culture’s deep relationship with its food. In the recent years, many Nepalese immigrated to the west, which forced them to exchange their traditional food with items from dollar menu.  As a Newah immigrant, I can only reminiscent days of Bhoye, when I accompanied my family to a wedding Bhoye of my older cousin, or Bhoye celebrating Yenyaye puni (Indra Jatra), or one during Mohani (Dashain).  Many Newars in Kathmandu valley still prepare Bhoye during traditional festivities, despite the demands of modern day lifestyle, and growing homogenization of the culture. However, this Bhoye culture is slowly getting lost somewhere between a newly opened KFC and microwavable dinner from Bhat Bhateni.

Bhoye is feasted while sitting down in a long line on a hand woven paddy straw mat on the floor. The straw mats, called Sukul, are usually 18 to 20 inch wide and 15 to 20 feet long. Diners are seated according to the family hierarchy, such as the father followed by his eldest son and so forth.

The food items in Bhoye are sequentially served to signify the harmony between food and our body. Bhoye starts by laying a leaf plate, called Lapte, in front of each seated guest by servers who are known as Bharin. The plates are handmade by stitching together leaves of Sal (botanical name Shorea Robusta) tree by blunt needle-thin bamboo sticks into a shape of  about 14-inch round plate.

Here is how Bhoye progresses in a sequential order;

1.  Baji (Chiura or beaten rice)
Bharins start Bhoye by putting Baji (Chiura or beaten rice) on the leaf plates.

2. Aaloo (potato salad)
Next, Achar is put on the plate next to Baji. Achar is a salad made by mixing diced boiled potatoes (Aaloo) with small green peas, seasonal root vegetables such as radish, carrot. It is seasoned with ground sesame, chili, lemon juice, oil, turmeric, salt and fried fenugreek seeds. Often, Achar is served in a separate leaf bowl called Bohata, which is 3 to 4 inches bowl made similar to the leaf plate (Nepali Potato Salad Recipe).

3. Water buffalo meat
The third item served is curried stewed of water buffalo meat called Dayakugu Laa. Dayakugu Laa with its gravy is served over the Baji. The rich gravy soaks Baji with its umami flavors as well as softens the crispy Baji. After serving of Dayakugu Laa, guests may begin to eat.

4. Boo Bo (Geda Gudi or mixed beans)
The water buffalo stew is followed by Boo Bo (Geda Gudi or mixed beans), which is served as the fourth item.  The Boo Bo consists of three types of beans such as Mee Kegu (Methi Kerau) is a mixture of soaked fenugreek seeds mixed with small green peas simmered in aromatic curry. It is seasoned with garlic, ginger, salt, turmeric, cumin, chili, vegetable oil, and cilantro.  Kegu (Kerau or yellow peas) and Simpu (Simi or white beans) are two other beans made in the similar way as Mee Kegu. All three Boo Bo are put on the side of the same leaf plate next to Baji by three different Bharins.

5. Kauli (cauliflower)
The next item served is a seasonal vegetable curry, usually Kauli (Cauliflower) sautéed with garlic, ginger, salt, turmeric, cumin, chili, oil, cilantro and tomatoes.

6. Aaloo Chwon (Aaloo Tama or  potatoes and bamboo shoots)
Immediately after the seasonal vegetable, another Bharin serves Aaloo Chwon (Aaloo Tama). Aaloo Chwon is a stew of potatoes, sour bamboo shoots, and black-eyed peas or green beans. It is seasoned with lots of chili, garlic, ginger, salt, turmeric, cumin, oil, cilantro and tomatoes. The Aaloo Chwon is often served on a Bhota, the leaf bowl.

7. Khashi ya Laa (goat meat) or Kha ya Laa (chicken meat)
Next Bharin comes with a meat dish called Khashi ya Laa (goat meat) or Kha ya Laa (chicken).  These meats are not cultural norm in a typical Bhoye, but serving these meats signifies the higher social and financial status of the host.

8. Puk Laa (Bhuton or offal)
By this time another Bharin comes to serve Puk Laa (Bhuton), which is fried internal organs of water buffalo seasoned with some spices and salt.

After serving of Puk Laa, all Bharins line up to serve a second serving of the dishes, which may continue again.

9. Ayela (rice alcohol)
In between the first and second rounds, usually ladies of the host family line up and start to lay Salicha (small earthen bowl) in front of each guest. Salicha is a round clay glass about 2 inches in diameter that is used for serving Ayela (alcohol made of millet or rice) from a special long vase-like container called Aanti. The ladies pour Ayela slowly starting close at Salicha and gradually lifting up to the waist level to aerate the alcohol similar concept as aerating the wines.

Image based on photograph by Ritesh Man Tamrakar

10. Wauncha (Saag or green leafy salad)
After finishing second servings, Bharins begin serving cooked seasonal green leafy vegetables called Wauncha made usually from spinach or mustard leaves.

11. Paun Kwa (Amilo or sour soup)
Immediately after serving leafy vegetable, a sweet and sour soup-like dish called Paun Kwa (Amilo) is given to cleanse the palate. Paun Kwa is served in the empty Bhota previously used for Aaloo Chwon or in empty Salicha that was used for Ayela. Paun Kwa is made of fruit called Aamli (Lapsi – botanical name Choerospondias axillaris ).

12. Dhau (sweetened yogurt)
After serving of Paun Kwa, once again the Bharins come around serving Baji. This time the Baji is meant to be eaten with Dhau (sweet yogurt) as part of dessert.

Then the next Bharin starts to serve Dhau.

13. Sisabusa (diced vegetable salad)
In the end Bharins serve Sisabusa with a pinch of salt.  Sisabusa is mixture of vegetables and fruits such as diced carrots, radishes, cucumbers, soaked small green peas, peeled pieces of oranges or any other seasonal fruits and vegetables.

After the serving of Sisabusa, the Newah Bhoye officially completes.  Despite the completion of the Bhoye, the seated guests do not stand up right after finishing. Everyone waits until the elder member stands up, as a sign of a respect towards the elders.

14. Newari Desserts
Additionally, depending on the economical status or caste of the host, some tidbits, called Tuchha, are also served prior to the main Bhoye begins. Tuchha may contain pieces of boiled eggs, Chhoyela (grilled water buffalo meat), spiced soybean or black-eyed pea, and a small portion of fried Baji. Likewise, especially during the wedding Bhoye, a sweet snack called Lakhamari is also given to the guests as a favor to take home.

It is indeed a daunting task to organize a Bhoye for anyone, but some Newah expats are preserving this vibrant Bhoye culture by making part of some festival celebration. I hope my writing about Bhoye would at least inform about this ancient food culture, if not encourage a few to adopt it for their next festivities.

This writing was prepared with the assistance of family members Sahana Shrestha in Nepal and Bindesh Shrestha in the United States. A form of this article was published in Laskus magazine 2011 issue.

If above Jalebi video does not play, click here.

Everyday in Delhi, I ate Jalebi from a roadside stall close to where I was staying. Jalebi is a thin pretzel shaped pastry made from leavened fried dough dipped in sugar syrup. Similar are dessert are also found in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya and is known as Zlabia.

The Jalebi stand was setup in front of a local mithaiwala’s (pastry chef) dessert store selling hundreds of Indian desserts – most shinny silver wrap and all made from flour, butter, milk, sugar, and pinch of spices. The video clip shows making of Delhi Jalebi.

Jalebi is an evening time snack in Delhi, India. In Kathmandu Nepal, where it is known as Jeri, it is considered a breakfast food often served with a thin deep fried flatbread called swari. Both go well so together that people normally get them together and referred to the dish as Jeri Swari. Most of Kathmandu roadside Jeri (Jalebi) stalls serve a simple Jeri. While in India, there is tendency of serving spiced up Jeri.

Often one can even find a pretty good quality Indian dessert in the United States – thanks to huge exodus of talented Indian pastry chefs. However, I have yet to find even edible Jalebi in the United States. There is a simple reason behind it – Jalebi is not served fresh in the United States.  Jalebi is a fresh dessert – fry batter, soak in sugar syrup and bite into crispy warm dessert – all done within a few minutes.

Often many mithaiwalas (pastry chefs) prefer serving cold Jalebi made in a big batch since it is cheaper to make. They try to beat the flavors of fresh Jalebi by adding other flavors such as saffron, cardamom or adding bright food coloring. Here’s the news for them – a simple Jalebi fresh off the fryer beats any of stale concoction any day.

The small Jalebi stall in a regular neighborhood of Delhi served the best Jalebi I ever ate in my life. The stall was not in a famous tourist or commercial district or had decades of history behind it. They simply made fresh Jalebi.

The flour batter for Jalebi was fermented few hours before in morning. Jalebis were fried to order. The batter was put in cheesecloth and dispensed through a small hole to make a desired shapes (see video). After fried golden brown, it was dipped in sugar syrup for few seconds and put in colander to remove excess syrup. The resulting Jalebi was thin crusted goodness – such a simple thing in life can bring such a big joy.

After nearly two weeks of eating Jalebi everyday, the Jalebiwala (Jalebi maker) gave me his recipe for what I consider the best Jalebi in world. Many us will disagree on where is the best Jalebi in the world. However, those who disagree also have a easy consensus  that a good Jalebi or Jeri or Zlabia is always fresh and often simple.

Here’s the  simple recipe for Jalebi from the Delhi Jalebiwala.

Maida (substitute all purpose flour) 300
Yogurt 200 g
Besan (chickpea flour) 100 g

Let it stay for at least ½ hour to few hours.

Fry in medium heat.

Dunk in sugar syrup.

Eat warm.

To see more photos including photos of the same Delhi Jalebi with the flash, go to DesiGrub’s Facebook Page.

Momo: the sound, the ambience and the memory of its smell could bring water to the mouth. In Kathmandu valley, this steamed dish used to be commonly cooked by the Newar community. Momo is primarily made with the ground buffalo meat wrapped in thin dough about 3 inches in diameter from all purpose flour called maida.

Water buffalo meat could be the primary reason that momos were limited to the Newar and handful of other community in the past. Due to the religious taboos, the buffalo meat was prohibited amongst other castes. Many Nepalese believe momo originated from Tibet, but similar dishes are found throughout the Central Asia. In recent years, the popularity of momo has risen very high – you probably won’t find anyone in Kathmandu who doesn’t like momo or at least have heard about it. Now, you can easily find momos with turkey, chicken, goat, beef or mixed vegetables. The prevalence of vegetarian Momo is the proof of the momo mania.

Momo is normally eaten with a sauce made out of tomato, cilantro and sesame seed and/or combination of one or many types of nuts such as cashews, peanuts, walnuts. Adding nuts to the sauce not only provides a good source of needed fat for your body but also gives a unique taste that makes a “plate” licking dish. Although momo comes in many different shapes/sizes and with varieties of meat, the best and the authentic Kathmandu Momo would be the one made with the ground buffalo meat.

No one could dispute momos is the mostly eaten street food in the Kathmandu as well as a party dish for Nepal expat community living abroad. In the United States, I make Momo with the turkey meat. This is not by my choice but what I can commonly find in local grocery stores. Many people make momo with wrapper that is freshly made using all purpose flour. For me, that is an extra chore. Thus, for my own convenience, I use wonton wrapper, easy to wrap and readily available in most Asian (e.g., Korean) grocery stores. Oh yeah- wrapping the momo requires a skill. If your momo is wrapped too tightly and close to the meat, it might not be as good as the one that has a small space between the meat and the wonton.

Ingredients:

Ground Turkey (approximately 1.5 lb)
1 pack of wonton wrapper – about 45 pieces
Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
Black Salt – 1/8 – teaspoon
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Black pepper -  ¼ teaspoon
Ginger paste – ½ teaspoon
Garlic paste – ½ teaspoon
Momo masala – 1 tablespoon (optional)
Vegetable oil – 1/5 cup
Cinnamon  - ¼ teaspoon
Butter – 2 tablespoon
Timur – 1/6 teaspoon (similar to sezuan pepper)
Chopped or crushed Cabbage – 1 cup
Crushed dried onion – ¼ cup
Tomoato paste – ¼ cup
Crushed parsley – 2 teaspoon
Crushed red pepper 1/4 teaspoon

How to prepare Momo?

Add all the ingredients together (beside wonton wrapper) mentioned above in a bowl that is large enough to mix them all together.

Best if mixed with bare (cleaned) hand for about 10/15 minutes.

Upon mixing, you can put one tsp of mixed meat on to each wonton wrapper and wrap it leaving a space between meat and flour. Spray some vegetable oil on the steamer or rub some hardened butter or ghee. Place wrapped momo on steamer.

Steam for 10/12 minutes. The good indicator is when the dough just turns from dull matte texture to slightly shiny.

Serve with sauce of your choice.

Momo is the dish that can be most enjoyed making and eating with group – rather than just by yourself.

Related Dumpling Posts

• Tuna Momo with the easiest momo sauce
• Counting Calories in Momo
• Momo Recipe – In Memory of Kathmandu’s Momocha
• My attempt at making vegetarian momo
• Classic Momo Sauce – Roasted tomatoes and cilantro
• My Momo

A textbook definition of momo, for those who don’t know, is a steamed dish with spiced minced meat wrapped inside a  pocket made of a thin sheet of flour dough.

Momo, in its basic construction, is similar to the following dishes. Most of these dishes originate in Central Asia.

The difference is that the meat filling inside the momo is spiced with curry or related spices from the Indian subcontinent such as cumin, turmeric, coriander seeds etc.

Technically, momo is a potsticker with curried meat. For me, momo is a lot of fond memories; my mother making momos for 17 consecutive nights on our request, savoring cheap “especial” Mo: Mo in a local pasal against my parents wish, hitchhiking 100 miles to Philadelphia to buy my first steamer, Friday night weekly momo dinner at my cousin’s house in Virginia, loud momo parties at friends, last minute mad dash to accommodate a vegetarian momo eater or just a quite weekends with a special someone and lot of momos.

Although I have lot of special memories associated with momo, I hate making them. At first, I believed that I despised the repeated task of pinching dough and filling meat. I still hated it even when I got creative with each pinching of the dough and shape of individual momo.

I finally realized that more than disliking the monotony of making momo, I love the idea that someone made that “momo” just for me. To me, momo carries the warm feeling of someone taking care of me – maybe my ma, bhauju, fufu, bahini, sathi or just a complete stranger.  Each packet of dough filled with the curried meat is just made for me, someone took care of my needs and pampered me with my favorite dish.

For you many other Nepali people, momo would probably symbolize something else, it may mean comradery of working together in a group, taking care of people by feeding, sharing a plate with someone you just met, learning to cook as a child, finding innovative ways to steam momo in a college dorm, casual weekend gluttony, a bout of rebellion by eating meat against the religion, not giving into the peer pressure by staying vegetarian, or getting warmth in a winter night with the family. Whatever the reason maybe, lets celebrate talking, making, steaming, sharing, and eating momo this first week of February.

Related Posts

• Counting Calories in Momo
• Momo Recipe – In Memory of Kathmandu’s Momocha
• My attempt at making vegetarian momo
• Classic Momo Sauce – Roasted tomatoes and cilantro
• My Momo

Momo is my favorite food. For those who don’t know about momo, it’s a very similar to Chinese potstickers/dumplings or Japanese gyōza. To be honest, I was quite conflicted either to call my dish, momo or gyōza or dumplings, before writing this post. Other words are probably understood more widely but momo was what I was set to make, and how I know it from my heart. So be it, it’s “momo”. Oh well it’s not that I am calling a burger as “masu ko dalla”.

Often, I get asked by my vegetarian Nepali friends (Sau’bh, A’ya, A’u, S’e, Dha’na) how to make a good vegetarian momo. The easiest answer is to use any meatless sausage from your local grocery or homemade seitan instead of meat. However this time, I wanted to make a healthy and less processed vegetarian filling from scratch.

Many converted vegetarians don’t like momo much because they use watery vegetables that results in soggy overcooked momo. It’s complete blasphemy to art of momo making with complete disregard to the fact that momos are the texture food with meaty texture. You need to get the right texture not just flavor for your momos.

This is my journey on how to make a partially successful veggie momos. Partial success, because I’m still not satisfied with the final vegetarian momo. It’s definitely not as good as my favorite classic meat (masu) momo.

I used defrosted frozen spinach because it is has somewhat neutral flavor, is convenient, and has healthy overtones.

This is the most important step of making vegetarian momo — giving it texture. I added texture by adding lentil flour (urad dal) and use egg to bind the concoction. You can use other lentil flour such as chickpea flour or besan, now conveniently available in your local Wholefoods. I added imported momo masala for spicing my momos. If you don’t have momo masala, add any garam masala or make one. Please remember that all garam masala (or curry powders) are not created equal. Invest in a good one since it will last for many meals to come.

Here I’m improving my momo recipe by adding flavorful cilantros.

For more flavors, chopped onions, tomatoes and ghee were added. Everything could be added earlier but this shows how I was improvising (or was nervous about) my momo.

I used Nasoya wonton wrappers from a generic grocery store to wrap my momos.  My momo looked awful, but I was really tired and hungry. I just wanted to get done (also I can’t wrap momos well). For comparison, see some of the finest momo in this momo facebook album.

Steam it for about 10 minutes around when momo wrappers are cooked showing its shiny exterior.

Serve with classic momo sauce made with roasted tomatoes and fresh cilantro. As you can see from image of one open momo that the texture of even spinach momo was meaty like momo – not watery. Even though , the texture was fine, the momo was lacking something else.

I made a quite a few of these momo – so luckily I had the leftovers for dinner the next day. One of the classic ways to serve leftover momo is to deep fry or pan fry them. I decided on going a healthy route and baking my momos. Lightly coat with oil – maybe those Pam oil spray will come handy here. Bake 20 minutes in 375 °F oven. This still remains an attempt because I was not completely satisfied with it. Trust me the photo looks tastier.

Related Dumpling Posts

• Tuna Momo with the easiest momo sauce
• Counting Calories in Momo
• Momo Recipe – In Memory of Kathmandu’s Momocha
• My attempt at making vegetarian momo
• Classic Momo Sauce – Roasted tomatoes and cilantro
• My Momo

Here’s one of my simple and classic momo sauce with tomatoes, cilantro and black pepper or timur (similar to Szechuan pepper) . I made it for vegetarian momo.

Set oven to broil. Add chopped tomato and green chilies in oven safe pan (loaf pan here). Drizzle with oil.

Bake until you get desired amount of charring (about 10+ minutes).

Cool.

Add tomatoes and cilantro in blender. Add black pepper or timur. I added timur, which is a variant of easily found Szechuan pepper. Grind.

Store in a clean and sterilized* old pasta jar.

Serve chilled with steaming hot vegetarian momos.

*To sterilize pasta jar, put clean pasta jar in oven for 15 min+ at 250 °F. Turn off the oven. Let it cool inside the oven. Go green and use!

Related Dumpling Posts

• Tuna Momo with the easiest momo sauce
• Counting Calories in Momo
• Momo Recipe – In Memory of Kathmandu’s Momocha
• My attempt at making vegetarian momo
• Classic Momo Sauce – Roasted tomatoes and cilantro
• My Momo

Aloo Sadeko is a boiled potato dish mostly popular in the Newar community in Kathmandu valley. Aloo (or alu) is potatoes and sadeko roughly translates into marinated. This marinated potato salad type dish is commonly used as afternoon snack and served with Chiura (dried beaten rice). I once made this as an appetizer for my friends and family in a small gathering at my place.  Since then, the popularity of this marinated potato salad has lead into a norm that I make this dish every time there is a get-together.

Complete list of ingredients and amount are given at the end of the post.

Boil egg sized red potatoes in a pot by adding some water and a pinch of salt.  Boil it under a full gas power for about 20 minutes. You can tell whether the potatoes are cooked by poking into potatoes with a fork or a tooth pick.

Once done, let the potatoes sit for 15 minutes for cooling off. Peel potatoes. Dice potatoes into to small pieces.  An egg sized potato can be cut into 6 pieces.

Dice tomatoes, onions, green chili pepper into small pieces and pour over the diced potatoes. Chop cilantro and add into the potatoes.

Chill in freezer for 10/15 minutes.

Add black peppers.

Chinese peppers.

Ginger and garlic, black salt (Kala Namak), and table salt.

Cumin powder.

Turmeric powder.

Crushed red chili pepper.

Paprika

Classic yellow French mustard. (or mustard powder)

Heat oil with Methi (fenugreek)   in a small pan for about 3/5 minutes until it turns into black. Once done, let Methi sit for 10 minutes for cooling off.  Be careful!

Pour oil with Methi over the potatoes.

Mix all the ingredients together in the bowl.

Best if mixed with bare (cleaned) hand.

Prepared Aloo Sadeko.

Most enjoyable if served with Chiura (dried rice).

Ingredients:

20 small size (an egg size or as small as you can get) red potatoes
1 small sized red dried onion (diced)
1 medium size (larger than an egg) red tomato (diced)
2 large or 4 small garlic cloves (crushed)
4 small or 2 large size green chili peppers (diced)
4 tea spoon of vegetable oil
1 tea spoon of ginger paste
1/2 tea spoon of black salt
1/3 tea spoon of regular salt
1/2 tea spoon of fenugreek
1/2 tea spoon of French’s mustard
1/2 tea spoon of red chili pepper (crushed)
1 tea spoon of paprika powder
1 tea spoon of cumin powder
1/4 table spoon of turmeric powder
10 strings of cilantro (chopped)

Fenugreek seeds are widely used as spice in the Indian subcontinent (generally called methi) and horn of Africa (generally called abesh). Fenugreek seed have unique flavor and bitter to taste. There have been claims that diet rich in fenugreek seeds significantly reduced fasting blood sugar level and improve glucose tolerance – hence good for diabetic patient (scientific source).

The video is in Nepali with English subtitles for directions.

This fenugreek seed salad is a traditional Newari dish my Newari heritage, which flourished in Kathmandu Valley in Nepal for centuries. Newari fenugreek salad (Methi Achar) is healthy with high dose of fenugreek. Fenugreek seed salad (Methi ko achaar) is one of the classic Nepali recipes and is one of the two dish that I know that uses fenugreek (Methi) as the primary ingredient. The best part is fenugreek is s not that bitter when it’s done.

The video of fenugreek salad (Methi Achar) is in Nepali with English subtitles.

Here are the ingredients you need;

½ cup dry fenugreek seeds
½ cup of diced onions
1/3 cup diced tomatoes
¼ cup crushed toasted sesame seeds
3 green chilies (substitute 1 jalapeño pepper)
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
2 tablespoons crushed ginger
2 tablespoon vegetable oil (substitution extra virgin olive oil)
1 dry red chili
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds
½  teaspoon turmeric powder
½  teaspoon ground Timur (substitute schezuan pepper)
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 whole lime/lemon (1½  inch in diameter) juice

This is how you make newari fenugreek salad

1. Soak dry fenugreek in 3 cups of filtered water for at least 3 hours. Drain extra water.
2. Heat fenugreek in microwave for 1 to 2 minutes on high power. Throw out extra water.
3. Heat oil on medium heat.
4. Fry dry chili divided into 3 portions.
5. Add garlic and ginger and stir.
6. Add turmeric, green chilies, cumin red pepper, salt and stir for few seconds.
7. Add tomatoes and onion and stir for 2-3 minute on low heat.
8. Transfer to salad bowl, mix with fenugreek and ground roasted sesame powder.
9. Chill in refrigerator for 10 minutes and serve.

Video Credits:
Cooking demo by Sharda Shrestha
Direction & photography by Govinda Ram Shrestha