Tag Archives: nepali food

Dry fry Nepali style goat curry

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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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

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  • 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.

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

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

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Take care and happy FRIDAY ,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

Kwati: Nepali mixed bean soup

This is a guest post I wrote for , Chai- A cup of life, amazing blog I have been following for a while. Thank you so much for the opportunity and sharing the post here.

I would like to introduce you to M who writes her blog called ‘Nepali Australian‘. M is a Nepalese born Australian living in Sydney, an IT Business Analyst who loves blogging, travelling and fashion! We have been following each others blogs for some time now and I love reading about her thoughts, the Nepalese way of life and of course her life in Sydney. Her writings have been published in magazines, newspapers and she has even held her own Nepali Australian ‘Blog Awards 2013′, (which Chai a Cup of Life received an award for- thank you!) Today she is sharing a traditional Nepalese dish called ‘Kwati’. Here it is: 

It is really cold in Sydney these days. It is supposed to be autumn but it feels like winter already so I am always looking to cook warm meals for dinner. In Nepal, they have food for every season and Kwatiis especially made during rainy and cold season and is a very popular Nepali soup. Kwati is a traditional Nepalese dish which is a thick stew of several kinds of beans. It is high in protein so it is considered good to be given to sick people to gain strength.

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This soup is  made during the festival JanaiPurnimain Nepal. Kwati is normally a mix of 9 beans namely, black eye peas, cow peas, black lentils, chickpeas, adzuki, soybeans, mung dal, green peas and favas. But we can use any beans and pluses you have to make this soup. Luckily for me, I found a pre-mixedkwati pack in a Nepali grocery store.

Some people like to sprout it before making it into a soup but I just soaked it overnight and made the soup without sprouting.

Ingredients

  • 200 gm Kwati Mix
  • 1 medium onion sliced
  • 2medium tomatoes diced
  • 1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste
  • 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
  • 1 tablespoon of red chilli powder
  • 1 tablespoon of garam masala powder
  • 2 tablespoons of oil
  • 3 cups of vegetable /chicken stock
  • A few bay leaves
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 teaspoons of ghee
  • 1 teaspoon jwanu (Lovage)

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Steps

  • Wash and soak the Kwati mix overnight and drain the water.

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  • In a pressure cooker, heat oil and season with turmeric powder and bay leaf. Add the chopped onion and fry until it turns golden brown.
  • Add ginger garlic paste, salt, red chilli powder, garam masala powder and fry for a minute or two.

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  • Add chopped tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are soft. Make them into a paste.
  •  Add the soaked Kwati mix to the pressure cooker, mix well and add vegetable /chicken stock and cook until 5-7 whistles or until you can smell the beans.

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  •  Let it cool in the pressure cooker before you open the lid. As there are different types of beans, test the big ones like broad beans to check if it is cooked properly. The beans must be tender on touch. If it is not cooked enough then press again.

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  • In a pan, heat the ghee.

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  • Once ghee is hot, add jwanu(lovage)and fry for 30 seconds until it is dark brown in colour.

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  • Pour this into the pressure cooker with kwati and mix well.

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  • You could add more water/vegetable /chicken stock depending upon how thick you want the soup.

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P.S : If you are not into vegetable soup, you could add cooked/boiled  meat into the soup as well. Enjoy a tasty and healthy soup!!

Jhol momo soup

Its autumn here and chilly during mornings and evenings; so it is the perfect time to make our favourite dish, momo. I have shared how to make momo here before. Today I am sharing how to make Jhol (soup) achar for the momo for cold weather.

Ingredients

  • 10 medium ripe tomatoes sliced
  • 1 large red onion sliced
  • 2 red dry chilli
  • 60gm brown sesame seed
  • 3 cloves of fresh garlic sliced
  • 1 small bunch of fresh coriander chopped
  • 1 chicken stock cube
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 teaspoon chilli powder
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 3 table spoon oil
  • 4 cup of Water
  • Lemon juice (optional)

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Procedure

  • Roast the sesame seed in a pan and grind to make a powder and put aside.

Jhol momo soup (1)

  • In a pan, heat the oil and fry the dry chilli, sliced garlic cloves and turmeric powder.
  • Add the sliced onion and sauté until light brown.

Jhol momo soup (2)

  • Add sliced tomatoes and fry it until the tomatoes are cooked and turns into thick paste.

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  • Now add chicken stock cube, fresh coriander, sesame powder, salt, chilli powder and fry for a few minutes.

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  • Add this paste into a blender, add a cup of water and blend until the paste is smooth.

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  • In a big bowl, pour the mixture from the blender and remaining 3 cups of water and mix until the soup is consistent.

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  • If you like the soup a bit sour, add juice of one lemon.

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  • Serve the soup with the hot momo. Enjoy!!!

Back and alive

You must be wondering where I have been for so long but I have had one hell of a busy time in Nepal that I went MIA. Now I am back in Sydney so here is the update.

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The wedding of my BIL went well but for the first 3 weeks I was there, I was so busy that I didn’t get to do much but just concentrated on the wedding. I was glad that AS was with me the whole time. I was sleep deprived most of the time for one reason or another.

After the wedding AS came back to Sydney and for the next 2 weeks I was just being lazy and missing him a lot. I know I might sound like a broken record to all of you but I miss him very much whenever we are apart. Skyping and Vibering definitely helped but still it was not like holding him or getting a kiss from him. I am just glad to be sleeping next to him again and seeing him when I wake up in the morning.

Lots of things were fun in Nepal expect being sick multiple times. I was sick a couple of times before the wedding and I was scared I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. I was really careful the whole time drinking only bottled water outside and going to selective restaurants for food but I still got sick.

The day before the wedding, I was vomiting the whole night. We had gone to this fancy (supposedly good) restaurant at Darbar Marg in Kathmandu and we had had momo and pakoda. Looks like that made me vomit the whole night and the diarrhoea started the next morning.

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Imagine my state of mind and body when everyone was coming to our home. Thankfully, I took some medication and I was mostly OK for the wedding.

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As I mentioned before, my SIL is from a different caste from us so there was a slight confusion regarding tradition during the wedding but apart from that it was a great experience. The reception was equally fun, me meeting lots of relatives and friends. The wedding went really well and we have a new family member in our house who calls me sister :).

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I was glad once everything was over because I was planning to rest for a few days. It turned out to be just a dream because when the wedding was over, AS had just a week before he would leave for Sydney which meant we have to finish his shopping and on top of that, meet and eat with all the relatives who had invited us.

The week went really quickly and suddenly it was the day AS was to leave. I made a decision at the airport that I would never travel separately again. I know I was going to see him in 2 weeks but still my heart was crying for him not to go. Stupid me, but it was really hard.

The following day, finally I got to go and live with my parents and it was a good feeling. Even though, my new home (AS’s home) is good in every way, I had a different feeling when I got to sleep in my old bed and to be with my parents. I think the history I have with the house, my dog and seeing my old stuff is simply priceless and definitely, it will be my home forever.

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My parents spoiled me rotten for the next 2 weeks, breakfast in bed was really nice. My mum made sure she cooked whatever I would feel like eating. It was heaven just to wake up late and relax. I was so busy for the first 3 weeks that I just wanted to be lazy and relax the next two.

I did go for day trips to a few places with my parents but apart from that I spent lots of time at home just talking with them and relaxing.

I did went and visit my grand ma, who is 86 now. She is always so happy to see us and give her blessing. I can see a pain in her eyes sometime but still she smiles and tells me to be happy. The time I went to visit her before I came to Sydney, she almost made me cry. She told me , “I may not see you again so be well and make sure you look after your parents.” I am sure I am going to see her again and hope she will be strong and well for a long time to come.

ma

This time I managed to meet Kathy, from Himalayan Happenings with her lovely husband. It was such a nice moment and it was great to know you guys. I will be in touch and thanks for the momo. I loved it so much 🙂

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Thanks to one of my friends from school, I got to attend the gathering of my friend from primary school. I hadn’t seen most of them for 15 years now and it was so good to catch up. I couldn’t believe how much we have changed but at the same time we have the same level of comfort with each other. It’s like we had never been apart, conversation flew so easily. It was one of the most memorable moments of my visit to Nepal this time.

The other one has to be taking a family portrait with my grandparents in law. As I mentioned before granddad is 95 and grand mum is 90. We got a photographer to their place and had a great time taking photos. Here is one of the many photos we took. Having so many people, it was really hard to make sure everyone was OK in the same photos but finally we did get a few good shots.

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The highlight of my trip was definitely the wedding of my BIL but I am also glad to let you know that I managed to bring heaps of Nepali things for our new home.

We managed to bring two big carpets (Nepali carpets are quite famous and good), many showpieces like the idols of Buddha and Tara as well as the painting we were after.

Over all a great trip back home but now back to real word. I am still jet-lagged and tired from the trip. I might take me at least few days to be OK and normal.

I almost forgot to mention, I managed to be in Nepal for 5 weeks without any exercise. I took my yoga stuffs with me to exercise but it never saw the light of day. This afternoon after 5 weeks, I managed to go and swim during lunch. It was refreshing and relaxing. 🙂

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Of course, you will hear a lot about things from Nepal but for now, I need to stop typing. My hands need a rest.

Until my next post take care everyone and come back to blog. I am back now  🙂

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

My long weekend in picture

Last weekend, we had a long weekend as it was Labour Day on Monday. There is so much happening in Sydney right now that we had busy weekend. I am so tired now but glad I managed to do so much. Here are some of the photos from the weekend.

On Saturday, it was the start of Dashain, our biggest festival (for details click here). So in the morning I had to plant my Jamara to start the festival. To learn how to plant your own Jamara, please click here.

Jamara

Around 10am, we headed to Wattamolla Beach to enjoy picnic with family and friends. Wattamolla Beach is located within the Royal National Park and have nice beach perfect to go with family. It was awesome sunny day and we had heaps of fun in water.

Wattamolla Beach  (4)Wattamolla Beach  (3)Wattamolla Beach  (1)Wattamolla Beach  (5)Wattamolla Beach  (7)Wattamolla Beach  (6)Wattamolla Beach  (8)

On Sunday, we went to Helensburgh temple (details here) as it is Dashain now and it seemed like a great idea.. We went there with some of our friends and his family. As always, we had breakfast there, yummy vegetarian South Indian dishes.

temple

From there we drove for over an hour and was in Parramatta, enjoying Parramasala (details here). Like every year, it was fun with lots of food and music.

Parramasala (1)Parramasala (5)Parramasala (4)Parramasala (7) Parramasala (12) Parramasala (11) Parramasala (10) Parramasala (9) Parramasala (8)

On Monday, we went and saw the war ship at International Fleet Review. The review is a celebration marking 100 years since the Royal Australian Navy fleet first entered Sydney Harbour. It was worth the visit as we got to see so many navy ship from many different countries.

International Fleet Review (1) International Fleet Review (20) International Fleet Review (18) International Fleet Review (17) International Fleet Review (16) International Fleet Review (14) International Fleet Review (13)

You may also like :

*Sculpture by the sea *Easter Long weekend trip *Snowy Mountains: Australia