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Nepali cuisine comprises a variety of cuisines based upon ethnicity, alluvial soil and climate relating to cultural diversity and geography of Nepal and neighboring regions of Sikkim and Gorkhaland. Dal bhat () is eaten throughout Nepal. Dal is a soup made of and spices, bhat — usually rice but sometimes another grain — and a vegetable curry, tarkari. Condiments are usually small amounts of spicy pickle ( achaar, अचार) which can be fresh or fermented, mainly of dried mustard greens (called gundruk ko achar) and radish ( mula ko achar) and of which there are many varieties. Other accompaniments may be sliced lemon ( nibuwa) or Kaffir lime ( kagati) with fresh green chilli () and a fried Papadam and also Islamic food items such as rice pudding, sewai, and biryani. (ढिंडो) is a traditional food of Nepal. A typical example of Nepali cuisine is the Chaurasi Byanjan () set where bhat (rice) is served in a giant leaf platter (patravali) along with 84 different Nepali dishes each served on small plates. It is mostly fed during weddings and Pasni (rice feeding ceremony).
Momo is a Himalayan dumpling, filled with minced meat in a flour dough, given different shapes and then cooked by steaming. It is one of the most popular foods in Nepal and the regions of Sikkim, Darjeeling and Kalimpong in India where Nepali-speaking Indians have a presence. Momo were originally filled with Water buffalo meat but are now commonly filled with goat or chicken, as well as vegetarian preparations. Special foods such as sel roti, finni roti and patre are eaten during festivals such as Tihar. Sel roti is a traditional Nepali homemade ring-shaped rice bread which is sweet to taste. Other foods have hybrid Tibetan cuisine and Indian cuisine influence.
Dhindo is the national dish of Nepal, primarily made from flour of millet and is served with achar of gundruk 'dried spinach'.
Chow mein is a Nepali favorite in modern times based on Chinese-style stir-fried noodles. It is one of the most beloved everyday staple lunches in Nepali households.
Dahi (yogurt) and curry meat ( masu) or fish ( machha) are served as side dishes when available. Chicken ( kukhura) and fish are usually acceptable to all including the Khas Brahmin ( Bahun) caste. Observant Hindus never eat beef ( gai ko masu). They also eschew Water buffalo and yak meat as being too cow-like. Domestic pork ( sungur ko masu) was traditionally only eaten by aadibasi, however wild boar ( bangur ko masu) was traditionally hunted and eaten by magar people. A strain derived from wild boar is now raised in captivity and used for meat that is increasingly popular with Pahari ethnicities and castes that did not traditionally eat pork. They however eat wild boar ( bandel) as it is considered clean due to its forest habitat though they do not eat pork meat.
Because of the cold temperature, people often prefer warm foods like soup, thukpa, tea and strong alcohols. Grains are made into alcoholic beverages (see below). Butter tea is made by mixing butter or ghyu (घ्यु)/ghee and salt into a strong brew of tea. This tea preparation is also commonly mixed with tsampa flour to make a kind of fast food, which is especially eaten while traveling.
The cattle raised in this region are yak, (yak and cow crossed), Goat, and sheep. People raise these animals for meat, milk, cheese, and dahi (yogurt).
Most of the Himalayan regions are hard to reach. There is no proper means of transportation because of higher altitudes and it is a considerable challenge to build good road transportation. Hence only rice and some condiments such as salt are imported from other regions by air transport or by using animals as their means of transportation.
People in this region eat (millet or barley cooked dough), potato curry, momo (dumplings), Jhol Momo, Mokthuk, yak or goat or sheep meat, milk, thukpa, laping or strong alcohol like (millet juice) for their regular diet. This region also imports rice from other regions. Dal bhat is a staple in the cuisine served to the Everest-bound tourists.
Very few Thakali own their own yaks, so butter made from the yak milk is usually purchased at the market, along with other staples like rice, tea, lentils, sugar and spices. After butter is produced, a hard cheese called chhurpi is made with the buttermilk.
Thakali cuisine is less vegetarian than Pahari cuisine. Yak and yak-cow hybrids locally known as Jhopa were consumed by the lower castes. All castes eat the meat of local sheep called Bheda and Chyangra or Chiru imported from Tibet. Meat is sliced into thin slices and dried on thin poles near the cooking fire. Blood sausage is also prepared and dried. Dried meat is added to vegetable curries or sauteed in ghee and dipped into timur-ko-choup which is a mixture of red chili powder, Sichuan pepper, salt and local herbs. This spice mixture also seasons new potatoes, or eggs which may be boiled, fried or made into omelets.
Thakali cuisine uses locally grown buckwheat, barley, millet and dal, as well as rice, maize and dal imported from lower regions to the south. Grain may be ground and boiled into a thick porridge that is eaten in place of rice with dal. A kind of dal is even made from dried, ground buckwheat leaves. Grain can be roasted or popped in hot sand (which is then sieved off) as a snack food. Thakalis also follow the Tibetan customs of preparing tsampa and tea with butter and salt. Ghee is used in this tea preparation and as a cooking oil otherwise.
Since most Thakali people were engaged in trade, they could import vegetables, fruits and eggs from lower regions. A large variety of vegetables were consumed daily, some—especially daikon and beetroot—dried and often prepared with mutton. Soup prepared from spinach known as gyang-to was served with a pinch of timur-ko-choup. were introduced following the arrival of foreign horticulturists and are now widely enjoyed.
Although daily Newar food practices consist mostly of components from the generic hill cuisine, during ritual, ceremonial and festive eating, Newar dishes can be much more varied than the generic Pahade/Pahari ones. Newari cuisine widely uses Water buffalo meat. For vegetarians, meat and dried fish can be replaced by fried tofu or cottage cheese. The cuisine has a wide range of fermented preparations, whereas Pahade/Pahari cuisine has beyond a few aachar condiments.
Kwāti (क्वाति soup of different beans), kachilā (कचिला spiced minced meat), choila (छोयला water buffalo meat marinated in spices and grilled over the flames of dried wheat stalks), Pukala (पुकाला fried meat), wo (व: lentil cake), paun kwā (पाउँक्वा sour soup), Swan Puka (स्वँपुका stuffed lungs), syen (स्येँ fried liver), mye (म्ये boiled and fried tongue), Sapu Mhicha (सःपू म्हिचा leaf tripe stuffed with bone marrow) and sanyā khunā (सन्या खुना jellied fish soup) are some of the popular festival foods.
Dessert consists of dhau (धौ yogurt), sisābusā (सिसाबुसा fruits) and mari (मरि sweets). There are achaars made with aamli fruit. Thwon (थ्वँ rice beer) and aylā (अयला local alcohol) are the common alcoholic liquors that Newars make at home.
Food is of great importance in Newari culture. Newari cuisine is one of the most delicious food with intense flavorings. There are dishes for every edible part of buffalo meat (cooked and uncooked) that includes intestine, stomach and brain. That's another reason why they are famous.
Madhesi diets can be more varied than in the Middle Hills because of greater variety of crops grown locally plus cash crops imported from cooler microclimates in nearby hill regions, as well as from other parts of Greater Nepal. Fruit commonly grown in the Madhesh Province include mango ( aap), lychee, papaya ( armewa/mewa), banana ( kera/kela/kola) and jackfruit ( katahar/katahal).
A typical Madhesi food set includes basmati rice with ghee (gheu), pigeon pea daal, tarkari (cooked variety of vegetable), tarua (battered raw vegetables known as taruwa/baruwa such as potato, brinjal/aubergine, chili, cauliflower etc. deep fried in the oil), papad/papadum, mango/lemon pickles and yogurt. For non-vegetable items, they consume mostly fish or goat curry. Traditionally there never used to be poultry items but nowadays, due to urbanization, poultry items are common, too.
Tharu raise chickens and are reported to employ dogs to hunt rats in rice paddies and then roast them whole on sticks. Mutton may be obtained from nomadic hill people such as Kham Magar who take herds of sheep and goats up to sub-alpine pastures bordering the high Himalaya in summer, and down to Inner Madhesh valleys in winter. Increasing competition for land forces the Tharu people away from shifting cultivation toward sedentary agriculture, so the national custom of eating rice with lentils gains headway. The Tharu have unique ways of preparing these staples, such as rice and lentil dumplings called or and immature rice is used to make a kind of gruel, maar.
Taro root is an important crop in the region. The leaves and roots are eaten. Sidhara is a mixture of taro root, dried fish and turmeric that is formed into cakes and dried for preservation. The cakes are broken up and cooked with radish, chili, garlic and other spices to accompany boiled rice. Snails are cleansed, boiled and spiced to make ghonghi. Another short compendium of Tharu recipes includes roasted crab, wheat flatbread fried in mustard oil, and fried taro leaf cakes.
Halwa is a sweetened semolina pudding with green cardamom, cashews, raisins and shredded coconut. Like other Nepali sweets, Nepali puddings are prepared using ghee. Dumplings called lal mohan are deep fried like and soaked in cardamom-flavored sweet syrup.
At the festival of Yomari Purnima celebrated in December, to thank the goddess of grains Annapurna after the harvest, the Newar make sweet dumplings ( yomari) with rice flour filled with sesame seeds, and brown sugar or molasses. In the predominately Hindu country, sweet peda made with thickened milk () are offered to the Hindu gods.
Food is traditionally eaten with the right hand. Touching or eating food with the left hand, which is traditionally used for washing off after stool, is considered unhygienic, and taboo. The hands should be washed before eating, and the hand and mouth should be rinsed after. It is customary to wash one's lips after eating. The use of spoons, and more recently forks, is also increasing, and inquiring if one is available is acceptable. The washing of hands and mouth is not necessary, before or after, when eating with a spoon.
In Nepal, especially among the Brahmin and Chhetri castes, the purity of food and drinks is taken very seriously. Contact with saliva is almost universally considered to make food impure, which is considered to be jutho and may be seen as a sign of insult or grave ignorance. Acceptability of jutho food follows the traditional hierarchy of respect, where parents' jutho is acceptable to children but not vice-versa and so on. People of equal standing, like friends and spouses may also share jutho, except among highly religious (where jutho is impure) or traditional people (where jutho is thought to transfer diseases, or husbands may be held superior to wives). In a similar vein, food touched by pets and other animals, or where an insect drops, are discarded and the containers thoroughly washed. Some exceptions may be made for animals traditionally thought pure, such as cows.
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