Top 10 food you should try in Nepal

Nepal is a country that is located between India and China, bordering in the north with the Tibet province of China and in the south, east, & west with India. Bordering these two great countries, Nepal is a masterpiece in terms of diversity for everything, like people, culture, customs, language, food, and flora and fauna. Being located between India & China, it has become a fusion in terms of people, religion, culture, custom, language & food. Here in this blog, we are discussing some food you should try when you are in Nepal.

01) Dal Bhat: Dal bhat is a major dish widely consumed by Nepalis. Dal bhat is a set of a few dishes that comes with dal (lentil soup), bhat (rice), tarkari (curry), chutney (pickle), mashu (meat), papad (thatched chickpea), and some seasonal salad, garnished with peeled lemon slices. This is the perfect dish that can fill you up. Dal bhat is the last resort for many Nepalis when super hungry.

02) Momo: Momo is another super popular food from Nepal that is widely consumed all over. In the streets of Kathmandu, we can see Momo centers on every corner. It is mostly eaten as snacks or as dinner sometimes, but mostly as snacks. It originated in Tibet, but later it came to Kathmandu, and now it's super famous over here. Actually, momo is the dumpling covered with spiced meat & vegetables inside, either steamed or deep-fried, served with homemade sauce or relish. This can be different from place to place. In some places it can be as small as normal, or somewhere it can be a mouthful monster.

03) Newari Set: Newari Set is another food you shouldn't miss in Nepal. It is a set of several dishes that come together. We can find a Newari restaurant or a street pub mostly everywhere in Kathmandu. This comes with chiura (beaten paddy), choila (boiled and mixed with spicy meat), spicy curry, beans & bamboo shoot soup, and some fried peanut-cashew nuts. It’s a complete meal; it can be eaten as a lunch, snack, or dinner as well.

04) Chapati Curry: Chapati Curry is another dish widely eaten in Nepal. This is widely consumed in the midland and lowland of Nepal. Chapati is a thin wheat bread baked in a pan. It’s on both sides, which makes it more tasty. It can be served with many things like juice, tea-coffe, sauce, or tarkari (curry). This can be eaten as breakfast, lunch, dinner, or as snacks. Curry can be seasonal, so it can be anything.

05) Porridge with nettle soup: This is also one of the typical foods from ancient times. When there was no impact of Western civilization before globalization, it used to be the major dish in the highlands and in the hilly regions of Nepal. The porridge can be made from millet, wheat, barley, corn, or buckwheat. This can be eaten as lunch and dinner, whereas a small portion can be suitable for snacks and breakfast. The soup can be seasonal, or mostly it comes with nettle soup, dry spinach (Ghundruk) soup, or bamboo shoot-beans soup.

06) Chatamari: Chatamari is a food that is cooked with many different ingredients. It is the Nepali version of pizza. It was discovered in Kathmandu centuries ago, in the medieval age. Rice pancake is baked in a frying pan and topped with egg, minced meat, & some vegetables. It can be found around the Newari restaurants in the Kathmandu Valley. It can be eaten as a snack and as a main dinner as well.

07) Sell roti achar: Roti achar is another famous dish in Nepal. Roti is a rice doughnut cooked in deep-fried oil. This bread tastes sweet and salty. This snack is widely eaten inside the Kathmandu Valley and outside the Kathmandu Valley. This bread is cooked on auspicious occasions and festivals in the hilly region of Nepal. This can be served with curry soup or dry curry called achar. This can be eaten as lunch, dinner, breakfast, & as snacks.

08) Shukuti (Dry Meat): Shukuti (Dry Meat) is widely consumed in the mountain & hilly regions of Nepal. Fresh red meat is taken after slaughter and hung over the fireplace or cooking place, as when it gets dry, it’s ready to be consumed. This meat would be your best snack for rice whisky, but beware, chew carefully, or it can drag you to the dentist afterward.

09) Thukpa: Thukpa is a noodle soup that comes with a thick soup and seasonal vegetables mixed with Himalayan spices. This food is widely eaten during wintertime in the hilly and mountain regions of Nepal. You can easily find places for this food, as many restaurants in Kathmandu do thukpa. A Tibetan restaurant around the town could be the best choice to explore several varieties of this dish.

10) Tongba: Tongba is a drink served in a wooden pot using a bamboo straw. The mixture of fermented millet & barley is kept inside the wooden pot and drunk with a straw after pouring hot water on it so it can be mixed with the fermented stuff. Tongba is also called Tibetan hot beer, which is found widely in the Kathmandu Valley as well as in the mountain region of Nepal. Don’t worry, the alcohol you get from Tongba is around 5 to 10%, depending on the place.