Category Archives: Recipe

Lamb choila

Posted on July 22, 2013 | 13 comments

Buff (buffalo) choila is very popular with Newars in Nepal. As we can’t get buff here, we make choila with lamb. Here is the recipe and it is very yummy.

Ingredients

  • 500gm lamb steak
  • 2 small green chilies
  • 5 cloves of fresh garlic
  • 2 inch of fresh ginger
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 2 teaspoons chili flakes
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (Methi )
  • salt to taste

Steps

  • Heat a non-stick frying pan and sauté the lamb until cooked.

Lamb choila (1)

  • Cook on both side and make sure, the lamb doesn’t get burnt.
  • Once both sides are golden brown, repeat the process with all the lamb.
  • Make sure the lam is not overcooked otherwise it will be tough and chewy.
  • When you are doing this in batches, make sure you cover the cooked lamb in a container so it doesn’t become dry. This will also make the choila juicy and tender.
  • Once all the meat is cooked let it cool down for a few minutes, slice the lamb into small pieces diagonally into 1 inch size pieces so it looks better for the presentation. Put all the meat in a big bowl.

Lamb choila (4)

  • Slice fresh chilli into small pieces.

Lamb choila (3)

  • Make a paste in the pestel and mortar using fresh garlic, fresh ginger. If you don’t have fresh ginger and garlic, you can use readymade paste but fresh always tastes better.

Lamb choila (2)

  • Then add this paste along with sliced fresh chilli, chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, chili flakes,  and salt into a bowl with the lamb. Mix it well.

Lamb choila (5)

  • Now add turmeric powder.

Lamb choila (7)

  • Heat up the pan, add oil and fenugreek seeds and fry it till it turns dark brown. Make sure it doesn’t burn and turn black otherwise it will have a bitter taste.

Lamb choila (8)

  • Pour the oil over the lamb and mix well.
  • Garnish with fresh coriander and lamb choila is ready to be served!

Lamb choila (9)

You may also like:

*Chicken chili – Nepali Style *Chicken Tikka Masala *Gundruk Aloo Bhatmas Curry

13 Comments

Posted in Foodie, Kathmandu, Nepal, Nepali food, Newari Food, Recipe

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Apungo and halwa

Posted on July 15, 2013 | 13 comments

Last week I had puja at home so I needed to learn how to make apungo and halwa for puja. I had never tried to make it before but I had no choice but to learn this time around. So here I am sharing the recipe. It turned out really well and I was surprised how easy it was.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup ghee (clarified butter)
  • 3 cups plain flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water

Steps

  1. Take a thick pan and pour ¾ cup ghee in the pan.
  2. halwa (2)When ghee starts to melt, add plain flour and fry  it stirring continuously. Make sure, the flour doesn’t turn brown.
  3. halwa (3)After a while when the flour is cooked, it should smell really good.
  4. halwa (4)Once it is cooked, take out half of the fried flour and set it aside on a plate.
  5. halwa (5)Add 2 table spoons of sugar to the plate and mix well.
  6. Apungo is now ready.
  7. With the remaining flour, fry it some more until it is light brown in colour.
  8. halwa (6)Add the rest of the sugar and then add the water and keep stirring.
  9. halwa (7)When the water and flour is mixed well and ghee starts showing on the top, add the rest of the ghee and Halwa is now ready too.
  10. halwa (8) halwa (9)If you are making halwa only skip step 5, 6, and 7.

halwa (11)

 Enjoy!!!

You may also like:

*Seviya kheer (vermicelli kheer) *Kheer(Rice pudding) *Gundruk Aloo Bhatmas Curry

13 Comments

Posted in Foodie, Nepal, Nepali Culture, Nepali Festivals, Nepali food, Newari Culture, Newari Food, Recipe

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Kheer (Rice pudding)

Posted on July 1, 2013 | 8 comments

Kheer (Rice Pudding) is one of the favourite dishes in Nepal and is an integral part of parties and ceremonies.  Kheer is regarded as a “pure” food in Nepal, as it is rice cooked in milk and so it is used in all pujas as well as weddings and other religious celebrations.

There are many ways to prepare Kheer and I am sharing a quick and easy recipe using sweetened condensed milk to get the desired thickness and sweetness for Kheer.  I made a big portion recently, which served 20+ people so please adjust the recipe according to your need.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups Arborio rice
  • 4 litres full fat milk
  • 2 tins (375 gm. each) sweetened condensed milk
  • 4 tablespoons Ghee (clarified butter)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped dry fruits
  • 2 tablespoons chopped Almonds
  • 10-15 cardamom pods sliced

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 Steps

  • In a big container, pour all the milk and sweetened condensed milk and bring it to boil.

rice pudding rice pudding

  • In the meantime mix rice with ghee using your hand (do not wash rice).

rice pudding rice pudding

  • Pour rice into the hot boiling milk and stir it continually.
  • Cook the mixture for 15-20 minutes on low heat until rice gets cooked.

rice pudding

  • Kheer is ready when it becomes thick.
  • Turn off the heat and add chopped dried fruits, almonds and cardamom pods and mix well.

rice pudding rice pudding

  • Kheer is now ready to be served hot Or cool it down and put in the fridge as it tastes amazing when cold too and makes a great dessert.

You may also like:

*Seviya kheer (vermicelli kheer) *Aloo ko achar (nepali style potato salad) *Gundruk Aloo Bhatmas Curry

8 Comments

Posted in Foodie, Nepal, Nepali food, Newari Food, Recipe

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Pineko golbheda ko achar (tomato achar)

Posted on May 28, 2013 | 14 comments

This recipe is inspired by my grand ma. I remember her making this almost every time we visited her and it used to be my favourite. It is an easy, quick and delicious achar.

Ingredients

  • 5 small tomatoes
  • 4 dry red chillies (use more or less according to taste)
  • 3 cloves of garlic peeled and halved
  • Salt to taste

Steps

  • Roast tomatoes over the fire until it is cooked.
  • achar (1)Roast red chill over fire but be careful not to burn it.
  • Take the black skin off the roasted tomatoes.
  • Grind salt, roasted chilli and fresh garlic cloves using mortar and pestel until you get a paste.

achar (2)achar (3)

  • Now add roasted tomatoes and grind them all as smooth as possible.

achar (4)

  • The achar is ready and can be served.

achar (5)

You may also like:

*Khandeko golbenda ko achar *Aloo ko achar (nepali style potato salad) *Gundruk Aloo Bhatmas Curry

 

14 Comments

Posted in Nepali food, Recipe

Simple chicken curry

Posted on May 26, 2013 | 26 comments

It has been a few days that my hubby wanted to eat typical daal bhaat, aachar and masu. Normally we don’t eat rice at home so yesterday I decided to make him the Nepali meal. So I cooked this simple chicken recipe.

Ingredients

  • Chicken, about 1.5 kg, cut into medium sized pieces
  • 2 large onions, finely chopped
  • 2 tomatoes diced
  • 2 fresh green chilies
  • 2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
  • 8 teaspoon olive oil
  • 3  teaspoon cumin powder
  • 2  teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric power
  • A few curry leaves
  • Salt as per taste

Steps

  • Remove the skin from the chicken.(optional)
  • Season the pieces with 3 tablespoons of oil, salt, chilli, turmeric, coriander and cumin powder.

simple chicken curry (1)

  • Set aside for at least an half hour.
  • Heat rest oil in a frying pan. Add the chicken pieces and cook until brown on all sides; usually 6–8 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate.

simple chicken curry (2)

  • Dice the tomatoes and green chillies, make a puree, and set aside.

simple chicken curry (5)

  • In a pan, add remaining oil, throw in the garlic ginger paste, and curry leaves.

simple chicken curry (3)

  • Then add the onions and fry for 15 minutes or until golden brown, stirring regularly.

simple chicken curry (4)

  • Once onion is cooked, pour the tomato puree and let it cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. If the sauce reduces significantly, add some water.

simple chicken curry (6)

  • Mix well and add the chicken. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes, or until tender.

simple chicken curry (7)

  • The delicious chicken curry is ready and it can be served with rice or roti.

simple chicken curry (8)

You may also like:

*Goat curry (using a pressure cooker) *Chicken Tikka Masala

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26 Comments

Posted in Nepali food, Recipe

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