Category Archives: Newari Food

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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Phokso Fry (Nepali style fried lungs)

Posted on March 4, 2013 | 17 comments

In Nepal, a goat’s brain (gidi), feet (khutta), head (tauko), stomach skin (bhundi), tongue (jibro), liver (kalejo), kidney, lungs (phokso), fried intestines (aandra), fried solidified blood (rakati) are considered delicacies and are in very high demand in Dashain and during festivals.

I know some of you might feel squeamish even thinking about eating offal but believe me if you love your meat, you will love these dishes. Another is that eating offal uses the parts of the beast that might otherwise be wasted. As it takes 10 kilos of cereal to produce one kilo of meat, then we should not be wasting any part of the carcass. Unless you deliberately avoid meat, eating offal should be regarded as “green”.

As I am from Newar community so it is very common in our household to have these delicacies.

Most of you may not know it but fried lungs are one of the tastiest of delicacies. If done the right way, Phokso fried (fried lungs) are very tasty. AS was craving it when we were in Nepal. As we were a bit scared to eat out, my MIL decided to cook one at home and at the same time teach AS and me how to do it.

In order to have a perfect Phokso fried, you must make sure you buy fresh lungs without any punctures. In Nepal, they blow air into the lungs at the butcher’s to show that it is a good one.

Phokso Fry (1)

Once lungs are ready, it must be cleaned properly to make sure there is no blood left in the vessels. To clean it, pour water in it through its trachea multiple times until all coagulated blood remaining in the lungs come out. At the end, pour a few tablespoonful of oil into each lung.

Ingredients:

  • 1 khasi ko phokso (goat lungs)
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 teaspoons turmeric powder
  • 1/2 teaspoons coriander and cumin powder
  • 1/4 teaspoons chilli powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon garlic ginger paste
  • 4 cups water
  • kitchen strings
  • 1 small potato to use as stopper

Process:

  • Put the flour in a dish and place all ingredients over it. Mix all ingredients together until all lumps are gone. The mix should be a bit watery.

Phokso Fry (2)

  • To make sure there are no lumps in the mixture; strain the mixture through the strainer. Use whisker if required.

Phokso Fry (3)

  • Fill a plastic bag (we used milk bag in Nepal but you can use zip lock bag) with the mixture. Place the end of the trachea into the opening of the bag and clamp your fingers over them to seal them. Pump the mixture in the bag into the trachea.

Phokso Fry (5)

  • When the lungs become full you will notice that the outer skin will be smooth and shiny.

Phokso Fry (6)

  • When the lungs are full, don’t just let the trachea go as the lungs will pump the mixture out quite rapidly. Keep holding the trachea!
  • To seal the trachea, peel and cut the potato and insert the cut potato into the opening of the trachea. Shove it inside then fold and seal trachea by tying with a kitchen string. This will make sure the batter doesn’t flow out while it is being boiled.

Phokso Fry (7)

  • In a big pot, boil water and add turmeric powder.

Phokso Fry (8)

  • Add the lungs and cook it. You may need to turn it over to make sure all sides get cooked.
  • Once the lungs are cooked, let it cool down before cutting it.

Phokso Fry (9)

  • Slice the lungs into pieces a few centimetres thick pieces.
  • In a fry pan, heat oil and lay the sliced lungs in one layer.
  • Once one side is crispy and brown in colour, turn and fry the other side.

Phokso Fry (10)

  • Take the fried lungs out on a plate.
  • Mix salt, chill power and cumin powder in the plate.

Phokso Fry (11)

  • Sprinkle this mix on the fried lungs.

Phokso Fry (12)

  • It is best served hot.
  • Enjoy!!!

17 Comments

Posted in Nepali food, Newari Culture, Newari Food, Recipe

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Update from Nepal Part 3

Posted on January 20, 2013 | 10 comments

Skinny and photogenic

90% of the people I meet in Nepal told me that I am too skinny and I need to put on some weight. I am not underweight so I am happy with it and as you all know I try very hard with exercise and healthy food to maintain my figure but most people in Nepal have their own ideas about my weight.

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In the beginning I used to get annoyed about it but now I am so used to it that I ignored all these comments with a smile :). Also if you look around Kathmandu, most gals are either similar weight like mine or even skinnier than me so I have no idea why they think I need to put on weight. I have a feeling being married is one of the factor.

Anyway I am learning to just ignore and concentrate in good eating habit no matter what people say. Also AS is on my side telling me I am OK and we just need to concentrate on being healthy. I am very happy to have such a wonderful hubby who understands me so well. But I think he has an ulterior motive as well. He doesn’t want me gaining weight and buying more clothes as I won’t fit into my current ones then 🙂

Most of the people especially from AS’s side has seen me only during the wedding. That time I was a bride so I was fully made up in the traditional attire. After the wedding, lot of his relatives added me on their Facebook. So that is the only way they have seen me in causal dresses.

Anyway, I have heard from lot of his relatives that I am photogenic. I am not sure I should take that as a compliment or not. I am just wondering because, normally I think photogenic means I look good on photo but at the back of mind I was wondering, does that mean I don’t look good in person.

Anyway I got that comment from many people so just sharing what’s on my mind here 🙂

Maghe Sankranti

According to Nepali calendar, it was Maghe Sankranti (1st of Magh) a few days ago.  Please click here to read more about this festival.

As I am married now, I was invited to AS’s grandparents house to celebrate the festival with my in-laws. AS missed the occasion but I was glad I was there as I got to meet all his relatives again.

As I mentioned in my post, this day we eat laddoos (sesame seeds candy ball), chaku (molasses), ghee (clarified butter), sweet potatoes, yam, khichari (mixture of rice and lentils), ginger and salt  and green leaf spinach. So a big feast was ready in the house when we got there.DSC04802DSC04800DSC04799

First his grandma put mustard oil on our head and blessed us then we all enjoyed the food. It was fun catching up with my new family.

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After a few days of Magh 1, AS’s Mama (Mum’s brother) also invited us for Maghe Sankranti. In Newari culture normally, daughter’s family invites SIL, daughter and their kids after the festival as nakhatya (festival invitation in newari) to celebrate the festival.

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I got to meet more family members in this function as well. As you must have guessed,there was a feast prepared which included laddoos, chaku (molasses), ghee (clarified butter), sweet potatoes, yam, khichari, green leaf spinach and many more  dishes. .

Ma fussy chu ( I am fussy)

Sometime words have two different meaning in different languages and I got caught into that recently.

The other day I was in a departmental store trying on few make-up items. The sales gal was doing her job well convincing me to buy something so in reply I said, “ Ma fussy chu ( I am fussy), so let me think about it.” But she understood completely different thing.

Fussy (pronounced Fashi ) means con in a gentle way in Nepali language. So she thought I was telling her that she tried to con me into buying something else. For a minute I didn’t understand her reply as it was out of context when she said, “Don’t worry I am telling you the truth” but after a while I understood that she thought I thought she was conning me into buying something different.

Now I think before I say something as it might have a different meaning here.

Pasni Party

While AS was here we were invited to a Pasni of one of our friends’ kid along with my parents. They live in Sydney near us but they came here to host the function like my brother. It was nice to go to this function and enjoy Nepali way of socialising. I met a few friends and relatives in this function because in Nepal, somehow everyone seems to be related. 🙂

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Wedding party experience

I am writing this as my own experience and have no intention to disrespect any caste.

As I have told you in my post here, Nepal is a country of four castes and thirty six sub castes which means all of these castes have their own tradition and rituals.

I am from Newar caste and in our culture wedding parties goes till late at night. It is common to see Newari party starting around 6 pm and finish at 12 midnight but other castes like chhetri or bhaunu may have wedding parties that start in the afternoon and finish a bit early like 6-7pm.

One of my friends (a chherti by caste)  had invited me for his sister’s wedding. He asked me if I needed a physical invitation card but I said it’s OK as I didn’t want to bother him. So I went to the party hall where he had told me in that day with one of my cousins.

When we reach the hall, the hall was almost empty so I thought either I mix up the day or the venue. But as I entered, I saw my friend. It was 7 pm at most but there were only a few people left there. Even the bride and groom had left as they had to travel few hours to reach their home.

He informed us that the party was almost over. I was a bit embarrassed because I didn’t know what to say. I had tried to contact him earlier to find out the details but he was unavailable as he was flying in from the US the same day. Even my mum had reminded me to check the time but I just assumed that it would be same as ours but I was so mistaken.

I was happy to meet my friends after a while but it was a bit embarrassing situation and for the first time in my life I reached a party when it was almost over.

Latest update

I am having a great time with my parents. I am spending lots of time with them talking and having a great time. We have been to many temples around Kathmandu which I will post details of later. I am really glad that I extended my 2 weeks holiday to spend with them as they are very happy to have me here and I am very happy to be here.

I still miss AS a lot but I will be seeing him soon. We talk on the phone or Skype everyday so I am happy to be in Kathmandu in my birth home.

Take care everyone till my next post.

10 Comments

Posted in Family, Kathmandu, Nepal, Nepal 2012 / 2013, Nepali Culture, Nepali Festivals, Nepali food, Newari Culture, Newari Food

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