Category Archives: Nepali food

Dahi Chiura Ceremony

Posted on February 19, 2015 | 14 comments

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had my baby shower but I was waiting for my parents to arrive from Nepal to do a traditional baby shower, also known as Dahi chiura ceremony in Nepali or Dhau-baji in Newari.

In this ceremony, the mother-to-be’s family comes to feed Dhau-baji (yogurt and flattened/beaten rice) and brings Sagun and lots of food along with gifts for the mother-to-be as well as the unborn baby.

My parents have arrived in Sydney now so I am extremely happy as I will have a helping hand to look after the little one for the first few months. I could not imagine how I would have managed if they were not here.

Last weekend, my parents along with the help of my brother and SIL organised the Dahi Chiura ceremony. It was a traditional ceremony with the ladies all wearing saris.

Dhai Chiura (14)

My mum made Yomari and sagun (bara, boiled eggs, chicken and fish) for the occasion and bought some sweets, fruits and cakes as well. They also bought clothes for me along with jewelleries as well as things for little one.

Dhai Chiura (5) Dhai Chiura (4) Dhai Chiura (3) Dhai Chiura (1)

It was a family affair with just me, AS, my parents, brother, SIL and my little nephew.

Dhai Chiura (15) Dhai Chiura (2)

For the ceremony, my mum followed the followings steps, if anyone wants to know. It might be different for different cultures but I believe the basic will remain the same.

Dhai Chiura (6) Dhai Chiura (7)

  • The ritual started with my mother worshipping Lord Ganesh in the Sukanda. She put tika made of vermillion, rice and yogurt and flowers on Lord Ganesh..
  • Then she put tika for me and AS.
  • Then she gave us the gifts of fruits, sweets, clothes, and jewelleries.
  • This was followed by Sagun and then the main event of dahi chiura, where everyone feeds me dahi chiura.
  • Everyone was given Sagun and sweet as well after this.
  • Thus the main event of dahi chiura is was conclude.
  • Cake is normally not a traditional inclusion for dahi chiura but we had one so I and AS cut the cake together

Dahi Chiura (12) Dahi Chiura (13) Dahi Chiura (16)

For many reasons, the dahi chiura ceremony is one of my favourite celebrations for our coming daughter.

Dahi Chiura (9) Dahi Chiura (10) Dahi Chiura (11)

In addition to normal family dahi chiura, the pregnant mother is often invited by her relatives to eat meals with them. I had invited many of my family and friends who were pregnant to my place and done the same ceremony so it is my turn to be invited to my close friends and family’s place for the dahi chiura ceremony as well.

It was really nice of all of them to get involved making me and the baby feel special. Here are some of the pics from various occasions of dahi chiura. I was spoiled with lots of blessings, yummy foods and lots of useful gifts .

Dahi Chiura (18)

I am so glad that we are keeping Nepali traditional alive living so far from home and I want to show all these photos to my daughter one day and explain the traditions and culture.

Hope you enjoyed the traditional way of Nepali/Newari baby shower.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO 

14 Comments

Posted in My pregnancy, Nepali Culture, Nepali food, Newari Culture, Newari Food

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Payaj ko pakoda (Crispy Onion Fritters)

Posted on January 19, 2015 | 2 comments

As you know mums love to cook and my MIL is no exception so when she was here we got to eat a variety of Newari and Nepali food like Yomari, Haluwa, aloo chops and she also made Pyaj ko pakoda.

Pyaj means onion in Nepali.

The process is very simple and I am sharing the recipe here.

Ingredients

  • 3 medium size Onions, finely sliced
  • 1/2 cup Gram Flour (Besan Flour)
  • 1/4 cup Rice Flour
  • 1 teaspoon grated Ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped Coriander Leaves
  • Oil, for deep frying
  • Salt to taste

Method

  • In a bowl, mix sliced onion gram flour, rice flour, ginger, red chilli powder, coriander leaves and salt.

Payaj ko pakoda (1)

  • Add ¼ cup of water and mix well and keep aside for 5 minutes.
  • The onion pakoda batter is ready to be fried. Do not add more water unless required otherwise pakodas will not turn crispy.
  • Heat oil in a deep pan (or wok) and take a handful of batter mixture in the hand and gently drop 3-4 small fritters into the oil at a time and deep fry.

Payaj ko pakoda (2)

  • Fry the onion pakodas, till they look crisp and golden on both sides (once the underside is golden brown turn them over so both sides are golden). Repeat the process for the remaining batter and deep-fry in batches.
  • Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain them on the kitchen paper towels for excess oil to be absorbed.

Payaj ko pakoda (3)

  • Serve onion pakodas with your favourite sauce.

Payaj ko pakoda (4)

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

2 Comments

Posted in Foodie, Nepali food, Newari Food, Recipe

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Happy Dashain!!!

Posted on September 25, 2014 | 10 comments

Today is the first day of our 15 days long festival of Dashain. Like every year, we have plans to celebrate it with friends and family.

Today is Ghatasthapana, the day when Jamara is planted so it is ready to be used for Vijaya Dashaimi.

My Jamara in Tika day

This year, our Dashain will be extra special because AS’s uncle and his family are visiting Sydney and we will be spending a few days with them during the festival.

Dashain Tika (11)

We will also have our usual celebration with samay baji and Tika celebration as well as Dashain Nakhatey.

Dashain

A RELAXED mind, A PEACEFUL soul, A JOYFUL spirit, A HEALTHY body, A Heart full of Love, May U have all these every day. Happy Dashain everyone!!!

Here are the posts I have written regarding Dashian over the years .

Dashain Tika (13) Dashain Tika (3)

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate  your favorite blog .

Nominations open for NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2014

10 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Nepali Festivals, Nepali food

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Golveda Kerau Achar (Tomato and Green Pea’s achar)

Posted on August 18, 2014 | 4 comments

Ingredients

  • 4 medium tomatoes chopped
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 1 cup green peas (I used frozen one)
  • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon red chilli powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon coriander powder
  • Salt to taste
  • Fresh coriander to garnish

Steps

  • Heat up the pan on high heat and add oil.
  • Add turmeric powder and peas and stir it for a minute or so.

achar (1)

  • Add chopped tomatoes into the pan, stir it and cover it with a lid for 3-5 minutes. Do not forget to stir it in between.
  • Once the tomatoes are mushy in texture, add chilli powder, salt to taste, coriander and cumin powder.

achar (2)

  • Stir well and mash the tomatoes to give it a gravy texture.
  • Add ¼ cup of water and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes on low heat.

achar (3)

  • Place the achar in a bowl and garnish with fresh coriander.

achar (4)

Take care ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

4 Comments

Posted in Foodie, Nepali food, Recipe

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Dry fry Nepali style goat curry

Posted on August 15, 2014 | 13 comments

I had guests for lunch last weekend. They informed me that they don’t eat chicken and chicken is what I do best. I decided to make goat for them but wanted to do something special. I have never tried the goat like this before but was so proud at the end when the goat curry turned out so good that I didn’t even have a piece left at the end of the day. Even my brother who doesn’t like goat at all ate it and had second helping. AS was really happy and the guests all praised my cooking. My mum will be so proud to know that I am becoming a better cook every day.

Ingredients

  • 1 kg goat with bones cut into 1 inch cubes (pieces with bones can be a bit bigger too)
  • 3 medium onions thinly sliced
  • 2 dry red chilies
  • 2 medium tomatoes diced
  • 2 tablespoons ginger & garlic paste
  • 1 inch cinnamon stick
  • 1 tablespoon turmeric powder
  • 6-8 curry leaves
  • 1 tablespoon red chili powder
  • 3 tablespoons garam masala powder
  • Salt to taste
  • 5 tablespoons oil
  • Fresh coriander to garnish

Method:

  • In a pressure cooker, put cut goat meat cover half the meat with water and add 1 tablespoon of salt.
  • Cook it until the whistle goes off 5-8 times. Let it cool down.
  • The meat is perfect if you can separate the meat from the bone with hand.

goat curry (1)

  • Drain the water and pour the meat into a large bowl with 2 tablespoons ginger & garlic paste, 1 tablespoon red chili powder, 3 tablespoons garam masala powder, 2 table spoon of oil and marinat well and leave it for at least a few hours in the fridge. I left mine overnight and it was just great.

goat curry (2)

  • In a pan, add oil, onion and salt and sauté until onion becomes soft and translucent. Take the onion out of the pan and put it aside.

goat curry (3)

  • In the same pan, add remaining oil, add dry red chillies, cinnamon stick and curry leaves and fry them for a minute.

goat curry (4)

  • Now add the marinated meat and fry until the meat is brown on all the sides. Keep stirring frequently making sure, the meat doesn’t stick to pan and keep frying for 5 to 8 minutes on medium flame.

goat curry (5)

  • Add tomatoes and fry them all together for about 5 minutes or until tomatoes are cooked and mussy.

goat curry (6)

  • Transfer into a serving bowl and garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

goat curry (7)

Take care and happy FRIDAY ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

13 Comments

Posted in Foodie, Nepali food, Recipe

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