Category Archives: Nepali food

Chicken choila / chhoela / Choila

Posted on November 11, 2012 | 3 comments

I learned this recipe from my BIL (K didi’s husband). He is one of the best cooks around us and he loves cooking. I am sure it is true when they say that when you cook with love, it tastes better. He does put lots of time and effort in his cooking as well.

Ingredients

  • 500gm boneless chicken
  • Few stems spring onion
  • 2 small green chilies
  • 1 red onion finely sliced
  • coriander leaves
  • 5 cloves of fresh garlic
  • 2 inch on 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

  • Cut chicken breast into thin layers.
  • Heat the non-stick frying pan and sauté the chicken until cooked.

  • Cook on both side and make sure, the chicken doesn’t get burnt.
  • Once both sides are golden brown, repeat the process with all the chicken.

  • When you are doing this in batches, make sure you cover the cooked chicken in a container so it doesn’t become dry. This will also make the chhoela juicy and tender.
  • Once all the meat is cooked let it cool down for few minutes, slice the chicken into small diagonally into inch size pieces so it looks better for the presentation. Put all the meat in a big bowl.

  • Make a paste in the blender using fresh garlic, fresh ginger, fresh chilli and fresh coriander. If you don’t have fresh ginger and garlic, you can used readymade paste but fresh always tastes better.

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

  • Now 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.

  • Pour the oil over the chicken and mix it properly.
  • Cut the stem of the green onion into about 2 inch long sizes. Slice it into thin slices and add it to the chicken.

  • Add finely sliced red onion to the chicken

  • Garnish with fresh coriander and Chicken chhoela is ready to be served!

You may also like :

*Chicken chili *Goat curry *Momo

3 Comments

Posted in Nepali Culture, Nepali food, Recipe

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How to make Chicken chili – Nepali Style

Posted on November 4, 2012 | 48 comments

This used to be one of my favourite entrée served in Nepali wedding parties back in the day when I was a kid. I still love them and I learned this from my BIL, my cousin K didi’s husband. It is simple, quick and yummy.

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breast, boneless
  • 1 Spanish Onion
  • 1 large capsicum
  • 4 Green chilli
  • 2 big tomatoes
  • 1 table-spoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1 table-spoon turmeric powder
  • 1 table-spoon cumin seed
  • 3 table-spoon Tomato ketchup
  • 2 table-spoon plain flour
  • 1 table-spoon ginger garlic paste
  • Few stems of green shallot chopped
  • 1 small bunch of fresh chopped coriander
  • 2 cloves of fresh garlic crushed
  • 1 inch of fresh ginger crushed
  • 1 egg
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil to fry

Steps

  • Cut the onion into quarters and take off each skin one by one.

  • Cut capsicum and tomatoes around 1 inch square in size.

  • Cut the chicken breast around 1 inch square in size.

  • Cut the green chili into 2 pieces length wise,
  • Put chicken breast in a big bowl and mix well with cumin, chilli, turmeric powder, salt and ginger garlic paste.

  • Then add plain flour and egg and mix it. Make sure to coat all the chicken pieces well.

  • Heat oil in a pan.

  • Fry the marinated chicken cubes in the oil.

  • Once it turns golden brown, take it out from the heat and put aside.

  • In a wok heat 2 tablespoon of oil and add sliced green chilli, cumin seed, crushed ginger and  garlic and fry for about a minute.

  • Add tomato ketchup in the wok and let it cook for a few minutes.

  • Add fried chicken and mix it well with the sauce.

  • Now add Spanish onion, tomatoes and capsicum.

  • Give it a quick toss we don’t want the onion to cook.

  • Add green shallot and coriander and give it a quick toss and take it off the heat.

  • Serve it as an entrée or with rice.

You may also like :

* *Goat curry *Momo

48 Comments

Posted in Nepali food, Recipe

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Gundruk Aloo Bhatmas Curry

Posted on November 2, 2012 | 13 comments

Gundruk is fermented green vegetables like mustard, turnip, radish, cauliflower leaves or any green leaves like spinach (Saag). It is one of the famous foods in Nepal. It can be made as a curry or as achar. It has a characteristic sour taste and gives an acidic and cured smell. It is Brownish Black in colour.

Gundruk is one of the most popular vegetarian dishes in Nepal. In Nepal you can buy it or you can make your own. If you are interested in making Gundruk, please click here for the steps . It is really easy.

The gundruk in this recipe was made by my cousin K didi in Sydney but we can also buy Gundruk in Nepali grocery stores these days.

It is served as a side dish but it can be made into an appetiser as a soup. Gundruk is an important source of minerals particularly during the off-season and green vegetables are not  available in rural areas when the diet consists of mostly starchy tubers and maize which tend to be low in minerals.

Today I am sharing the recipe for Gundruk with potatoes and soybean curry.

Ingredients

  • Gundruk (2 fist full)
  • 4 potatoes
  • 2 tomatoes chopped
  • 100 gm. of soybeans
  • 5 cloves of fresh garlic
  • 6 tablespoons of oil
  • 2 teaspoons cumin powder
  • 2 teaspoons coriander powder
  • 1 teaspoon chilli powder
  • Salt to taste

Steps

  • Peel potatoes and cut into 1 inch cubes.

  • Heat 1 table spoon oil on a pan and fry the soybean.

  • When it is soft take it out of the pan and keep it aside.
  • Peel fresh garlic and use pestle and mortal to crush them. If you don’t have fresh garlic, use 1 tablespoon of garlic paste.

  • In a pan, heat 1 table spoon of oil and fry the gundruk.

  • It will take only a few seconds for it to be cooked. Take it out of pan and keep it aside.
  • In a pot, heat remaining oil. Add dried chilli.

  • Add crushed garlic and potatoes with turmeric powder and salt.

  • Fry it for a while and then add chopped tomatoes, cumin, coriander and chili powder.

  • Fry it for a while. If potatoes start sticking to the pot, add a small quantity of water and keep frying for 5 minutes.

  • Now add 2 cups of water into the pot and cover it with the lid. Let it cook for 5 more minutes.

  • Now add the fried soybeans and gundruk into the pot and mix it well.

  • Remove the pot from the stove. Take some potatoes out of the pot and smash it and put it back into the pot. This will thicken the gravy.

  • Server with rice. Yummy!

You may also like :

*Aloo dum *Aloo ko achar *Aloo chop

13 Comments

Posted in Nepali food, Recipe

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Asthami : Dashain

Posted on October 22, 2012 | 2 comments

Hindus all over Nepal is celebrating Maha Ashtami today, the eighth day of Dashain, by worshipping Goddess Durga.

From ritualistic aspects,  Maha Ashtami holds very important value. On this day, the fiercest embodiment of the Goddess is worshipped. Goddess Durga is believed to bestow peace, longevity and perpetual happiness on her devotees.

People also read the Durga Saptashati scriptures today. The Durga Saptashati is divine recitals consisting of 700 slokas , or verses, divided into three parts – the first relating to Maha Kali, the second to Maha Lakshmi, and the third to Maha Saraswati.

Undertaking Durgasaptashati Patha  is supposed to destroy fear and the devotee is blessed with a benevolent mind. Chanting sacred hymns of Durgasatshati is also believed to eliminate poverty and free the devotee of all the sorrows.

The Goddess Durga is described as Sarvaswarupa (the one which incorporates every kind of form), Sarveshwari (the one who observes the function of all) and is possessed of all the divine powers and attributes. Goddess Durga can destroy all the illnesses and physical maladies of her devotee. 

Goddess Durga has 108 divine names and merely remembering or chanting the holy names can remove all the sufferings and bless the devotee with wealth and prosperity. 

The divine principle of Goddess Durga is supposed to manifest in nine rupas (forms) during the auspicious period of Dashain (the auspicious period of nine divine nights) and these divine forms are deified as Navdurga (nine divine manifestations of Durga) which are ascribed these divine names:

1. Shailputri, 2. Brahmacharini, 3. Chandraghanta, 4. Kushmanda, 5. Skandamata, 6. Katyayani, 7. Kalaratri, 8. Mahagauri, 9. Siddhidatri. 


Devotees throng the various shrines of the goddess in Kathmandu Valley from early morning today to offer prayers and to sacrifice animals like goats and ducks at different temples of Bhagwati including Bhadrakali, Kalikasthan, Guheswori, Mahankaal, Taleju Bhagwati, Daskshinkali, Sankata Shova Bhagwati and Naxal Bhagwati. Blood, symbolic for its fertility, is offered to the Goddesses.

Today, sacrifices and special offerings are made at Dashainghars and Kots as well. The old palace in Basantapur Hanuman Dhoka, is active throughout the night with worships and sacrifices in almost every courtyard. In Dasain Ghar at midnight , a total of 54 buffaloes and 54 goats are sacrificed in observance of the rites. After the offering of the blood, the meat is taken home and cooked as “prasad”, or food blessed by divinity. This food is offered, in tiny leaf plates, to the household Gods, and then distributed amongst the family. Eating this food is thought to be auspicious. Appropriately enough, the night of this day is called Kal Ratri (Black Night). 

While the puja is being carried out great feasts are held in the homes of common people.

People who do not sacrifice animals offer sacrifices of various vegetables and fruits in place of animals.

Some Hindus will also be fasting this day.

In Newari culture, we eat Kuchi Bhwey to mark this day. We were invited for the feast at my cousin house.

It consists of 9 Newari dishes which are

Kuchi bhwey

2 Comments

Posted in Nepal, Nepali Festivals, Nepali food, Newari Food

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Aloo Tama bodi (Potato with Bamboo Shoot and black eye beans)

Posted on October 12, 2012 | 18 comments

This is one of the popular dishes in Nepali/ Newari cuisine. In Newari style Bhoj (feast) you will always find this dish.

Aloo Tama is a classic Nepali soup prepared with black eyed beans, potatoes, bamboo shoots and spices. Tama is a non-fermented bamboo shoot product. Aloo tama is well-loved comfort food cooked almost in every household throughout Nepal. The enduring popularity of this dish is that, it is extremely tasty and very appetizing mainly for its slightly sour and pungent taste. There are different way to cook this and today I am sharing my style using pressure cooker.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup bamboo shoots (preferably sour one)
  • 4 medium potatoes, peeled, and cut into ½ inch cubes
  • 1 cup black-eyed peas (soaked overnight)
  • 1 teaspoon dry cumin seeds (jira)
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 3 red dry chilies
  • 1 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon ginger, minced
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric
  • 2 medium chopped tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • Salt to taste
  • Lemon juice to taste

Steps

  • First of all let the black eyed beans shock in water for overnight. If you forget to soak it overnight, you can soak in hot water for few hours and it will be fine.

  • Heat oil in a pan. I used pressure cooker.
  • Add turmeric, dry cumin seeds and red chilli and fry until it is dark.

  • Then add garlic and ginger.

  • Add chopped onion and cook few minutes on low heat.

  • Add potatoes to the onion and sauté for at least 5 minutes in medium heat.

  • Add little water so that it doesn’t stick on the pan.
  • Add soaked beans, tomatoes and fry for few minutes.

  • Add 2 cup of water, salt, chilli powder and cover the pressure cooker and press for 6-10 whistle or until potatoes is cooked.
  • Take off the pressure cooker and let it cool down.

  • Now add bamboo shoots and 1 cup water ,cover it and let it simmer for another 10 minute or until desired consistency is reached.

  •  Taste and add lemon juice as required to make it bit sour.
  • Sever with roti or rice.

You may also like :

*Aloo dum *Aloo ko achar *Aloo chop

18 Comments

Posted in Nepali food, Newari Food, Recipe

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