Short Intro on Some Nepali Food

I would like to introduce some of the Nepali Food that we have tried while we were in Nepal Nov~Dec 2009.

The Dal Bhat is Nepal's National Meal. They eat it for lunch and dinner. The one in this photo here is a vege Dal Bhat. There is rice, of course, Dal soup, papad, a potato dish and a vegetable dish with pickles. In this photo, the potato and vege is hidden under the papad, sorry. There are also meat Dal Bhat, and the meat will be a curried meat dish (see photo of more food in my Gallery)












The fried Tibetan Bread and the Fried Potato with Cheese and Eggs. The latter is very delicious. All the food is farm grown and fresh from the garden. There are fresh buffalo milk, tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, cabbage, mint, lemongrass and other spices, oranges, apples, lemon, honey - everything we eat is locally grown. The portion of their meal is also large to my standard and I have to tell the cook to make it half their normal size in order to be able to finish it.


Kothey, which are fried Momos with either vegetable or meat fillings. The momos can be ordered fried, steamed or mixed, which is fried on one side and steamed on the other side. This is a savoury dish, especially ate with the dipping sauce of mustard and chilli. Yummy!



The Nepali Vege Fried Rice, which we ate several times as well, especially when we are hungry. It's filling and also it is one of the fastest order to make.

Here is another version of Dal Bhat - the deluxe version. This is also vege Dal Bhat but it has so many dishes. The Nepali Dal Bhat is something like a eat-all-you-can dish, you can ask for refills until your stomach can take no more...



We ate a lot of Dal Bhat, almost everyday for lunch, and it was a sumptuous meal which gives us the energy to walk on for hours and yet not too heavy.



Well, actually the Momos and the Tibetan bread are not really Nepali food but it is so common there and they are always on the menu.

Here is a list of other dishes we tried:
Cornbread - Fried corn flour bread
Apple Pie & Apple Fritters, Spaghetti, Pizza, Puddings, Chicken steak on sizzling hotplate and many many more all available on the Guesthouse menu.
Thukpa - Tibetan thin noodle soup (cooked with vege, chicken or mutton)
Thuntek - Tibetan broad noodle in thick soup
Gongdrek - Tibetan fried noodle
Kushi Katsu - BBQ chicken chunks with whole onions and capsicums on a skewer served with french fries and salad - it is barbecued with a Tibetan marinate - very nice!

As for drinks, we had fresh from the garden: mint tea, lemongrass tea, our favourite lemon tea with honey, Nepali black tea, milk tea and also Tibetan tea. We have also tried the Nepali Rakshi, a wine made from millets which tastes like Japaness Sake. and the Mustang Coffee.

In fact, if I were to comment on the food in Nepal in short - there is a wide variety of choice and most of them are nice.

Meet Jangbu and the Sherpas

We first met Jangbu Sherpa at Hotel Manang on Nov 20th. Our introductory of trekking in Nepal was: you may love the Himalayas very much but the Himalayas don't love you, the weather up there doesn't love you. However, we love you and Jangbu here will take good care of all of you... True enough. The introduction of Jangbu Sherpa was brief, but there was no rush. At first acquaintance, Jangbu seemed a quiet character. Unassuming and very accommodating, he soon blended in with us as soon as our trekking began.

On the first kilometer of our trekking from Nayapul, Jangbu told me about his career. He had started out as a porter for 3 years and after that he went to train to be a licensed trekking guide. Since then he had been in the trekking industry for 15 years. He has led many teams to various treks throughout Nepal, the Everest treks, the Annapurnas, the Mustang and even overland to Tibet. He had been up to camp 2 of Mount Everest several times. He knew the terrains like the palm of his hands. All of us are first timer trekkers in Nepal, but being an experienced and very practical guide, it took him no time at all to understand exactly what each of us wants and capably takes care of everyone of us throughout our trip. Jangbu is fluent in English and Japanese and therefore has regular trekking groups returning to trek with him as guide. This time round, we taught him some basic Mandarin while he taught us quite a lot of Nepali. Jangbu has a great support team with him - Ang Gelu as his assistant and the porters are his cousins. They all come from the same village in Lukla.

Ang Gelu Sherpa - our assistant guide, and also Jangbu's younger brother. Gelu is also like our butler cum model. He is our handy man who handles all our complaints, from fixing our door locks to supplying our daily drinking water, and also our natural guide who introduced so many flowers and plants during the journey. I must say we are so lucky to have them. During treks, Gelu will gladly become our model, for he is so photogenic. Gelu is only 20, but he already has led small groups and solo trekkers up to above 7000M summits.

Our porters are very young, aged between 17 to 22 and like all young people, are always with their mobile phones either messaging or playing Nepali pop songs. We had a very good cultural exchange with our guides and porters. In the short 9 days, they became our new family unit. Our journey is filled with their laughter and warm friendship. I will remember their amicable faces, each and every one of them, and even now after I had returned home a month later, I think fondly of them like my younger brothers in Nepal.

Da Finju Sherpa - I would say the most characteristic guy who looks good in every photo. He is always exuberating with energy and charisma. Finju is always brimming with curiosity and likes to learn new things, especially new technology. He is also a good singer and dancer and very eloquent with words, be it jokes or a general conversation, in Nepali or English.

Temba Sherpa is Finju's elder brother. Temba has a more quiet demeanor and always the first to take off every morning before everyone. Whenever I see him upon arriving our destination, he is already relaxing with ears plugged to his mobile phone and singing to some Nepali songs. Temba has a very beautiful voice when he sings.

Ang Furba Sherpa - best buddy of Finju. The two are always together whenever they are free. They would find anything to play with, be it volleyball or just mock fighting with each other. Sometimes they got a bit rough and most times Finju will win, as he is a strappy chap and more rowdy. Furba is slim but his strength is stunning. Furba dances in a typical stance that belongs to Furba alone.

Ang Pasang Sherpa - a very quiet and shy boy. Pasang is slim like Furba but a bit taller. You will always find Pasang further behind his more active friends. However, Pasang never hesitates to come forward if he sees any of us need any help, be it a problem with the shower faucets or just a hand to pull you up a slope.

These people from Nepal whom we met for the first time on November 21st (Jangbu a day before) had been so warm and open to us that made us feel like part of their family in Nepal. We had such a wonderful time with them as great companions, as our guides and porters, as haamro bai ra sathi (our brother and friend - pardon my broken Nepali).

I shall miss them all and look forward to return to bask in the awesome beauty of Nepal's landscapes and ice-clad mountains and once again feel the uninhibited freedom of vast space, land and sky. And of course, to see those warm sweet smiles on those genuinely happy faces of the Nepali village people again! Dhanyabaad, mero sathi!