We have a goal of taking a cooking class in every country we visit. The first one? HUGE success.
Since we’ve been in Nepal, we’ve been offered a slew of Western foods: spaghetti, pizza, sandwhiches, “Ham Burgers”, baked goods, macaroni and cheese, and steaks (to name a few.) Sometimes we go for it, but mostly, we’re excited about what the locals eat.
Luckily, in the mountians, thats basically the only choice you get. And we’ve spent 41 out of 65 in the mountains.
We got pretty attached to Dal Baht, the traditional Nepali meal. And, Mo:Mos? OMG – basically heaven. So, when we found this cooking class, we didn’t hesitate.
The host, Amrit, “picked us up” (meaning, he met us on foot in front of our hotel and walked us back to his house.) So happy to meet us and chat, he was truly a pleasure.
But before we went to the class, he took us to the local market, the oldest one in the country. Just a few minutes walk from the busy downtown area of Thamel, we were in a huge open-air market reminicent of a Western style farmer’s market. He explained that the merchants are there twice daily: in the morning and evening. They pack up their goods in the midday to avoid them spoiling in the sun.
We bought a simple serving of raw spinach, and headed back to his home.
There we met his wife, sister-in-law, nephew, son and mother. The whole family was there in their tiny, adorable, cozy 2 story home which was about 200 sq feet on each floor. We started the class with a welcome glass of Marsala tea (very similar to the Western chai tea) and some lovely conversation.
After we finised our tea and got to know each other, we proceeded to make Mo:Mos with vegetable filling. YES! MOMOS FOR BREAKFAST!!
We rolled out the dough, shredded the cabbage, carrots, radish and jalapeno, and folded up the little nuggets of goodness. Placed them in a double-decker steamer, and placed them ontop of a pot that was boiling potatoes. Nepalis are very effienient and waste nothing. Truly something valuable to learn.
Since we were the only 2 students in the class that morning, we got to eat ALL THE MOMOS. Which meant about 15 each. For breakfast. We knew immediately that taking this class was the best idea ever.
Then, onto the Dal Baht. This traditional Nepali meal is something we’ve eaten almost every day since we’ve been in Nepal. Locals eat it daily around 11am, and again for dinner. The mix of lentil soup and white rice is rumored to provide you with all of you essential amino acids, and create a “super protein.” DAL BHAT POWER 24 HOUR.
With all of the pieces prepared and cooking, we moved on to Nepali celebration bread. This was the highlight for all. (We got laughed at. A LOT.)
We all got on the floor next to a hot pot of oil. (Safety not first.) With a large pot of silky dough in front of us, we learned how to pick up a handful in our cupped hands with our fingers positioned just right. “Learned” how to do this is a relative term. We understood the theory, but couldn’t keep the batter in our hands to save our life.
When you scoop the batter up, you then pour it into the boiling oil in a quick but controlled circular manner, creating a ring of dough simliar to funnel cake. Our teacher obviously had this mastered, and we goofed it up a lot. But, it was still delicious and ridiculously hilarious. The whole room was booming with laughter as we failed over and over again.
We tried several times and only managed to make little bits and pieces of bread instead of full rings, but they were delicious all the same. Now, time to enjoy.
A huge thanks to Amrit and family for having us in their home and showing us all about Nepali cooking. We loved our time with you! Get more information on their class here. We are still full…