by Nepali Food – Being surrounded by big nations such as China and India, Nepal is a tiny country with various cultures and traditions. Nepal is not only well known for these things but also famous for nepali foods that are culture oriented. Especially, (Newari, Tibetan, Thakali, Lohorung cuisine, Limbu cuisine, Madhesi Cuisine and etc)
If you are willing to know about Nepali food in more detail, then you are in the right place!
Living in an Asian Country, Most people think that Nepalese are well famous for Mo-mos and Thukpa. Beyond this Nepalese dishes are made from varieties of flavors, following traditions and stylish. If you visit Nepal and just research Nepalese food, you will discover various dishes for every reason. All the foods are made with less fat and are healthy for everybody to consume.
Nepali Foods You Need to Try at Least Once!
Let Us Start! We have gathered 15 iconic Nepalese cuisines for you. You must try these foods when you are in this country. Are you a Foodie? If the answer is Yes! you will definitely be going to try this food for sure.
1. Dal Bhat A Traditional Nepali Food
It is one of the traditional meals which is popular in most areas of Nepal. It consists of rice which is steamed and served with cooked lentils or pulses regarded as dal. Not only this but also you are going to find out extra dishes with this meal such as meat, seasonal vegetables, curd, and pickles (in Nepali called Achar) as well.
Once you have it, you will be full for the whole day, as dal bhat is a very healthy food with lots of nutrients and proteins that your body needs. It is cooked in every kitchen & eaten by every Nepalese people almost every day. You will be fully amazed by this food is that, it gives you the required energy and power for long hours.
Due to different tropical regions, at higher altitudes in Nepal, for instance, above 6500 feet where rice cannot be grown well, you will get a chance to experience this substitute with other delicious foods with this, such as dhindo or roti.
If you feel soul-filling and tasty after eating this delicious meal then don’t be surprised anymore. This is the reason behind being famous all over the country and being the favorite food of almost all Nepalese people. Lastly, with these benefits, it is also cheap in cost than other foods and easily found everywhere in Nepal.
2. Newari Khaja Set
Newari Khaja, also considered “Newari Bhoye” & “Samai Baji” is a cultural food of the Newar community. In previous days, this food was just famous and liked by Newari People, which would eat it during festivals or special occasions. However, the time has changed drastically and the devotees or fanbase for this meal is excessive all around Nepal today.
This Newari Khaja is served with several other elements such as; Chiyura/Baji (Beaten Rice), Achar (Pickle), Chhoyela (Meat), Eggs, Soybeans, Bara, Chhyang (a kind of beer made from rice), Aalu Tama and so on. If you taste this food in Nepal, your mouth will be full of water as the taste is more delicious and spicy. you will not regret consuming it even for once in your life.
It shows typical Newari culture and traditions in its food and makes the dish even more worth it to try.
You will find this dish especially in the Newar community or in the place where Newar lives. Nevertheless, being famous day by day, most restaurants and hotels as well savor to serve this dish to their consumers.
3. Momos
In Nepal, the other most recognized famous meal is Momos. Not only do tourists prefer this dish, but also most people’s favorite dish is also a momo. Furthermore, most Asian or Nepalese people are called by the name Momos in foreign countries as well. Even if the government considered this as Nepal’s national food, there is no one, who will not like it. Because of its delicious taste and cheap price in nature, many people prefer this meal as a daily lunch or breakfast.
About its Recipe, it is made with white flour stuffed alongside minced buff, chicken, or veggies. This meal is served with mayonnaise and various sauces whichever make the mixture of mouth-watering snacks on a plate basis. India the neighboring country of Nepal has taken this recipe already and also by many countries as well.
It is easily available mostly in street food shops and also in every restaurant & food cafe in Nepal with different styles and sizes. If you visit Nepal and return to your place without trying this dish you will regret your decision as this tasty dish will make you more satisfied than you think.
4. JUJU Dhau
The name “JUJU Dhau” is a type of yogurt that is also known as “king curd”. It is also considered a dessert that is made from buffalo milk. The dish is rich in flavor and makes by pounding a certain amount of boiled milk. The most interesting fact about this dish is it is made in a decorative clay bowl. The mixture after pouring is kept in this bowl in a place that is warm till it’s getting ready to consume.
Mainly, it is famous in the small city (Bhaktapur) as there are many street shops, where you can find Juju Dhau very easily. It is very popular among the Newar community and is also must demand product for their special occasions.
You can find it everywhere in Nepal. However, if you want the best quality and taste you should visit Bhaktapur City and try it once. Once you taste it, you are not going to stop ordering more and more as the taste will remain on your mind for a long time.
As it is one type of dessert, you can have the benefit of it as a side meal with dal-bhat or also as a snack.
5. Pani Puri
Pani Puri is a popular Indian-origin snack and also a portion of street food. It is crispy, hollow, fried dough balls (puri) filled with mashed potato, chili, onion, and various masalas, especially spices. it is served with flavored water that is made from mint, tamarind, and sweet chutney as per your wish. It is a very famous dish for every age people.
If you are going to try this snack, you will fill a crack of tastes and flavors in your mouth. The taste will make your mouth not stop to have another one immediately 🙂
In most places of Nepal, you will see Indian people selling panipuri at reasonable prices. Due to the increasing demand for this dish by every people, even Nepalese people are also found selling it.
I can suggest you try this dish by looking at the vendors whether it is clean and hygienic or not. And if the food is not fresh and unhygienic, your body will suffer from diseases like diarrhea or stomach pain. So, before regretting it, prevention is better than cure.
6. Chatpate
If you are a person who loves spicy food then Chatpate will be the best food to try. It is a mixture of various ingredients such as puffed rice, dried noodles, peas, vegetables like {coriander, tomato, onion, potato, fresh chili}, lemon juice, and spices.
It is also a very popular dish that is also available in the street food of Nepal and India. You will find this dish at the same place where panipuri stalls are built.
If you do not want to try spicy then also, you can order it without spicy but this dish will give a mouth-watering taste with spice. Not only this but also you will get a chance to experience sweetness, lemony, spiciness, and many more flavors in just one spoon of Chatpate. Until you do not try it, you will not know about this dish.
This meal is commonly oil – free but also you may find out some places where oils are used as an ingredient of it. Overall, It is a very light and healthy option that you may choose to try. It also provides different types of nutrients and flavors in taste with a crunchy texture that makes your cravings will be much satisfied after eating it.
7. Dhido or Dhindho – A Traditional Nepali Food
The dish Dhido is acknowledged as an exotic traditional food that is composed by cooking millet flour, buckwheat flour, wheat flour, or maize flour in a very traditional way. It is a very healthy dish made in hot water by adding flour to it. Also, it is cooked by moving the batter with a cooking turner as far as it gets a compatible texture.
This hot dish is served with cool liquid and also add ghee preferred to intensify the taste. I can advise you to try this dish with gundruk or by dipping it in meat soup, lentil soup, or milk. You can consume it for lunch or dinner.
It is the main diet of the people who live in rural areas. This dish is the replacement for dal bhat for most people. You can also try this dish with vegetable curries, pickles, buttermilk, and yogurt.
Even if it is a traditional dish but famous, you can find it easily in popular restaurants or you should visit rural areas to try this dish.
8. Thakali Khana Set
Previously, Thakali Khana was basically made by Thakali people only. But today in every restaurant in Nepal, this meal is easily accessible for foreign tourists or local people.
This dish covers locally grown buckwheat, rice or dhido, stir-fried greens, meat, flavored lentils, barley, maize, dal, & millet. Not only this but also extra ghee with special pickles, and gundruk are also served with this meal. Though Thakali khana looks very indistinguishable from Dal-Bhat, Its cooking methodology and ingredients are different.
If you go to modern restaurants in Nepal, you will get served sometimes bread made from buckwheat (such as pancakes or chapatis) in the company of basic curry and buckwheat finger chips as a snack. You will also get desserts like sweet curd or phopke (fermented rice) at the same price.
You shouldn’t miss this dish if you are here in Nepal.
Also Read: More Nepali Cuisines
9. Sel Roti and Aalu Achaar – A Traditional Nepali Food
Sel Roti is one of the delicious items that is also known as a festive dish in Nepal. It is mostly prepared on the occasion of Tihar. Tihar is the second-largest festival in Nepal that is celebrated with high eagerness by Nepalese people. It is also known as the Festival of Lights. Nepalese make Sel roti in their own home and enjoy this dish with aalu achaar (Potato Pickle) with their family members and friends mainly during this festival.
Besides this, the fan base of this dish is very large in number. Due to this most people prefer to have Sel roti in their daily lives as well. Mostly it is consumed as a morning breakfast or sometimes lunch with tea and aalu achaar.
About its ingredients, it is made with rice flour shaped like a ring by dipping it in fried oil or ghee. In the context of Aalu Achaar, it is also a traditional potato pickle mainly served as a side dish with Dal bhat or Sel roti. For making this potatoes are boiled and sliced into small cubes. These are then added with a range of spices and masalas.
If you want to balance the taste then, you should try the sweetness of Sel roti and spicy aalu achaar without any uncertainty in Nepal.
10. Thukpa
As Tibet and China are neighbors of Nepal, this dish is totally influenced by the people who lived in these countries. However, this is influenced dish, Nepal has made a separate own version of Thukpa.
It is a very popular soup-type dish mostly in the northern Himalayan region of Nepal. In winter, these soups make it warmer for the consumer with pieces of meat, vegetables along with noodles. It is also made from plain water, and dal water and gives you lots of proteins.
If you are very hungry and have no more money, you can order this at different cafes or restaurants in various parts of Nepal. As this is cheap but very healthy and makes your stomach full even if you just consume one bowl of it. It is also another popular dish that is preferred by everyone mostly in winter seasons.
11. Yomari – Nepali Food
Another famous dish is again from Newari culture, which is called Yomari. It is prepared in Yomari Punhi which is a special occasion in the Newar community. It is a very cultural dish that is made up of rice flour and chaaku. For making this meal, it takes quite a long process however, it is a very unique and tasty item in nature that you should try.
In the context of this item’s recipe, at first, from rice flour, the dough is made, and a spoonful of chaaku or khuwa is kept inside after making it of thick consistency. Later, a unique shape is made with a small piece of dough taken once at a time. This dough is kept for steam until it gets ready to eat.
In these modern days, modern people often try to make this dish with meat and other items as well. It can be found in Newari restaurants, nevertheless, you should always check their menus first because some restaurants only serve this dish especially. Once you try this meal, you will get the experience of heavenly food with delicious sweetness.
12. Chatamari
There are plenty of Nepali food from the Newar Culture which is very famous all over Nepal. These days, Not only do Newari people prefer these items but every people. The next famous Newari dish is called Chatamari. It is made from rice flour making it a thick batter.
There are different components that are used to decorate the top of it. It gives a wonderful look and the taste is so delicious as well. As a topping, various vegetables even meats are used on it. Somehow. it is quite difficult to find as there are very rare restaurants that serve this dish on their menus list.
The looks of this meal are very similar to Pizza however the taste is totally different in nature. It is also from the traditional local Newar Community. You will enjoy this dish trying it even once if you are here in Nepal.
13. Sadheko Sukuti
If you are a predacious or meat lover in nature then, this meal will be the perfect meal for you to try. This dish is prepared by cooking meat in many spices, pickles, and vegetables such as onions. The most best part of this dish is its pickle which is very tasty and delicious and liked by every people.
The spices of this meal are bulletproof, if you keep that single bite of meat in your mouth, you will feel the extreme spiciness and you will start saying “ohhhhh!! this is so spicy!!! It is one of the topmost spicy Nepali food. The spiciness of this dish makes it unique and whoever tried it even once, will not forget about it for their lifetime.
Many tourists just visit this country Nepal to try different unique foods. Especially the Pakistani, and Indian Indonesian people like extreme spicy in their day-to-day life. For them, this dish will be much perfect in comparison to people who do not like spicy.
Furthermore, this dish tastes so great but the spiciness, tanginess, and smokiness of this meat dish will take your experience to a whole new level.
14. Gundruk Ko Achar A Traditional Nepali Food
The exceptional Nepali food is Gundruk Ko Achar. It has a quite different taste and smell. If you are a newbie then, you may take some time to adjust this dish. However, this dish is a very healthy and fermented leafy green vegetable that is made either from mustard leaves, cauliflower leaves, or radish leaves.
Not only this, but also vegetables such as; chopped onion, tomatoes, ginger, lemon, green chilies, and salt are also used to prepare this dish. The tastiest part of it is, if there are bhatmas added to it, the taste will be on another level.
It is also a snack distributed as a side dish. You cannot find this dish outside of Nepal as this dish is so rare to find. Most of Nepali People even called it a national dish that makes your finger lick. You will find this dish whenever you order Dal bhat or Thakali khana. If you are not served with this dish, you can be asked for it. The combination of these Nepali food will be a great moment if you try it.
15. Lafhing
If you visit Boudha of Nepal, you will find various stalls that serve the dish called Lafhing. Primitively, this meal originated in Tibet, but this dish has a different fan base among Nepali People over here in Nepal as well in recent years.
The taste of Lafhing will make you want more however salt, onions, noodles, coriander, and garlic with a few drops of sesame oil inside this dish makes you unbelievably tasty.
If you want to increase the spiciness then you can increase as much as you want. This dish is especially found in Boudha. Moreover, you can find it somewhere else as well. Just try this nepali food and make your taste by giving a special treat to yourself.
Conclusion – Nepali Food
I just hope this guide blog will help to select and choose Nepalese food if you travel in Nepal. There are many varieties of Nepali Food to try out and I wish you will not leave the items while you travel to Nepal.
Okay, Now Are You Ready? What are you preparing to try to eat?
Are you going to try Dal Bhat? or Laphing?
If any confusion, leave a comment down below of feedback in the commet section.
Every Day is a Nepali Food Day! Happy Eating!
Any confusion? If Yes… You can still contact me for more information.
