All posts tagged: recipe

Crunchy salad mix – Nepalese style

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I’ve got no name for this dish. But it’s my mum making and its super yum. And best of all, its so easy. What you need: 1 cup julienned carrots 1/2 cup julienned white raddish 2 cup chopped cabbage 1/2 cup chopped onions 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes 1/3 cup chopped coriander 1/3 cup peas 1/2 lemon 1 tblspoon fenugreek seeds 1 tblspoon sesame seeds 1 tblspoon sweet chilli sauce 2 fresh green chillies chilli powder salt Preparation Soak the fenugreek seeds overnight. Dry roast the sesame seeds and grind it on a pestle. Then mix all the ingredients together, squeeze some lemon, salt and chilli powder to get some kick in. Then toss. That’s it! Fresh as spring! This would be perfect to go alongside a bbq or grill.  

Methi ko Achaar

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My mum is currently over in Australia living with us for a few months. And while she is having a ball taking care of her first granddaughter, I am trying to take advantage of her presence in my kitchen and take note of any of her Nepalese/Newari cooking. This particular pickle doesnt just burst with flavours, it literally explodes! And a big hit on the table. As with most of the Nepalese recipes on this site, I warn you, its not for the faint hearted as this one is spicy!  (My Nepalese brothers and sisters craving for more spice, you are welcome 😀 ) Here we go: Roast & grind the seeds: 1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds 1/2 teaspoon thyme seeds 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds Roast them all and grind them in a pestle Heat 1 tablespoon oil in frying pan. To that, add in 3 cloves of garlic and about a 1cm of garlic sliced, 3 dried chillies broken into small pieces, a pinch of turmeric. Remove from heat, once the garlic is slightly charred. (Keep your exhaust …

Homemade Nepalese raddish pickle – Not for the faint hearted

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So this is a raddish pickle often found in most Nepalese kitchen. If you cannot stand spice the smell of radish, or have a sensitive stomach, this is definitely not for you. I prepared this pickle following a couple of recipes online (see links below). I will have to admit the output was nothing close to my grandma’s pickle but not bad for a first attempt. And this “not-so-perfect” output has nothing to do with the recipes I followed but it was more because of I believe I didn’t go right with the proportion of ingredients I used. I hope to perfect it in my second attempt but here is how I went anyway: Ingredients: 700gms of radish – peeled and thick julienne cut 3 green chillies – cut lengthwise 2 tablespoons of roasted sesame seeds (I actually used 4 spoons of sesame and that was a bad, bad decision. I know I should have halved this) 1 tablespoon of turmeric powder 2 tablespoon of chilli powder 4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced. And the same amount …

I had a bag of carrots…

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One fine weekend, I noticed a bag of carrots in the fridge – waiting to expire. And then, this mini magic happened – A carrot cake! I followed the recipe from this link on taste.com.au (my bible for all food adventures). The changes I made were adding in extra carrots, cinnamon and walnuts. Instead of 250gm cream cheese, I only used 140gm. It was more than sufficient. Link: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/15406/carrot+cake Super easy for a once-in-a-blue-moon baker.   And as you can see, it turned out great! My first “good looking” cake.   nom..nom..  

Nepalese waa

The blessed ‘waa’ pancake

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Nepalese are foodies. Especially the Newar community among the Nepalese – like me. Living away from home, I specially miss mum’s cooking – the spices, the chillies, the curries … So any chance I get, I jump on to making Newari dishes. And one fine day, the blessed“waa” (pronounced as the wa of water) was made in my kitchen. Waa is basically black lentil pancake made with or without minced meat. Back in Nepal, Waa is a delicacy served as a snack or an entree. Its not really a very fancy dish, so that often makes me wonder why its only reserved for special occasion. Anyways, as a reminder to myself and to anyone wanting to attempt it, here is the recipe: Make sure you have these: 1.5 cup split black lentils / urad daal This made about 20 waa 250 gm chicken mince 1 tbsp  each of finely minced ginger and garlic 1 tsp each of coriander and cumin powder 2 – 3 finely chopped green chillies – this really depends on your taste 1/4 cup  finely chopped green coriander 5 – 6 stalks of spring …

Nepalese chicken curry

Nepalese Chicken Curry

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I am often asked what a typical Nepalese meal is like. And my answer is simple – Lots of rice and curry, needless to say with lots of spices. I thought I would share this Nepalese style chicken that I made for dinner today and is quite a regular one in every Nepalese kitchen. What you need: 6 chicken drumsticks – skin removed, each chopped into 3 pieces, washed and drained 1 large onion – sliced 1 large tomato – sliced 1 cup green peas 1/2 cup carrots diced Usually there is coriander to garnish but I am not too fond of it, so I never add it 🙂 2 fresh red chillies vegetable oil all the usual nepalese spices – cumin powder, chilli powder/flakes, turmeric powder How its done: Heat up a saucepan or a crockpot, add about 4 tablespoons of oil. Add a teaspoon of tumeric. Once the oil has heated add in fresh chopped chillies along with the chilli flakes (we love it hot!) and the onions as well. Then goes in …

Kheer – a creamy nutty dessert

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I created history in my kitchen again with my another “first”. I made the ‘Kheer’. This is Nepalese special-occasion-only dish, generally served as main meal for lunch. I always hated it because it is so milky & warm & sweet, until recently I tasted a different version of this Kheer served as a dessert. It was creamy rather than milky. It was chilled. It was still sweet but with a nutty flavour to it. It was a friend’s recipe. So of course, I borrowed it. And she was nice enough to detail the whole process. It took me about 2 hours. No kidding. Ingredients Full cream milk- 2 lt Rice- 2 fist full Sweetened condense milk- 80ml Almonds- coarsely ground- 1/3 cup Saffron threads- 1 pinch ( a very small pinch- say about 8-10 threads) Pistachio- coarsely ground- 1 and half table spoon ( pls make sure it’s unsalted- learnt the hard way:)) Cardamon I/4 teaspoon Save some nuts to decorate at the end. Method Soak rice in a bowl big enough to mash the rice roughly. In …

The easiest crowd pleaser – in my books

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I have been in a festive mood the last few days – firstly  it’s Dassain (Dassain = Food + MORE Food) AND it was the long weekend here in Sydney AND I had an extra day off. Double Bonanza! So, of course I had to try out something in the kitchen. This time my food adventures got me making a Nepalese favourite – Chicken Choella. If you were to eat this in Nepal, I am sure it is prepared in  more elaborate way and you will most certainly get a more spicier plate, but then who’s got the time for elaborate cooking, right? So, I do the best I can. I especially like this my modified version of the Choella recipe because its easy. I mean it. It IS easy. (I am sort of a lazy cook and go for anything shortcut and with less effort). I used: 800gms of chicken thigh fillet 1 big bunch of shallots –  but it depends on whether or not you like raw shallots. 3 fresh red chillies – go crazy. add more if you like. 4 tablespoons of mustard oil …

Creating History with Fish Curry

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I am sort of a disastrous chef. But that does not stop me from trying to cook. This time, I attempted the dreaded Fish Curry – Nepalese style. And guess what, for a change, it was not disastrous – with my mum’s help, of course. When following my mum’s recipe… umm, sorry…there is no recipe. I call it going by “ratio and proportion” and instincts. That’s primarily because she didn’t really learn these recipe from a book. It was merely passed down to her and she watched and learnt. I am expected to do the same, which is incredibly hard but this a proof that I made it!  And this is my attempt to document my victory 😉 And just like that, I made history in my kitchen with my first ever fish curry! Thank god for creating mums & skype. Ready, Set, Done!