Nepal .. We came, We ate, We conked out..

It has been quiet on the foodie blog front. But hey it’s been a very active period for the group exploring nature and connecting with nature in Nepal. Nepal filled us with a plethora of varied activities. Getting up at 4AM to see the sunrise over the Annapurna range, the sun unveiling the Fishtail peak in a seductive dance of light and clouds, white water rafting to explore the silken but awesome power of water, Zip Flying to beat nature at her own game of gravity, Paragliding over the expansive valleys of Pokhara .. the group had it all and that too with the blessings of Lord Pashupathinath in his high abode in Kathmandu..

The food and wine scene was not far behind.. What Nepal lacked in originality and variety of local cuisine, it more than made up in the sheer beauty of the locations where we imbibed our tasty calories. Nepali cuisine to the untrained eye appears like North Indian cuisine with a triple helping of turmeric. One has to assume that the extra turmeric does play a role in ensuring repeat customers considering that food preservation may not beat acceptable global benchmark levels.

Look deeper and one starts to appreciate the creativeness of the cuisine in making use of the sparse ingredients available in a mountainous habitat, in a tasty nutritional manner. Practicality overrides presentation, value takes over variety and good sense prevails over gourmet. The localites seem to take eating as an everyday chore and one could not find the appreciation for food as one of the finer pleasures of life. A query on what is good Nepali cuisine is often met with a defensive, apologetic and embarrassed “ there is nothing exciting.. if you want to try, you should have the Thakali Kitchen cuisine!”

 As you can guess,  this foodie groups response to that advice, was to troop in to try the Thakali cusine. A mishmash of various grains, veggies, fish and mutton served in a traditional Thali style. This satisfying experience led us to give it another shot at an arranged Nepali dinner along with a cultural program. That was Nepal at its best since it had not only prepared the food with great care, but had also attempted to turn it into a memorable evening experience by transforming it into a seven course affair. Throw in the fiery sake, the cheap-tasting wine and the traditional dancers on stage, the stage was set for a great evening of culinary fun.

After the uneventful bus ride through the meandering streets of Kathmandu, we were seated in a massive balconied hall reminiscent of old western movies where Mr. Eastwood or Mr. Wayne used to shoot villains who keep falling over the balcony balustrades. The evening started with a bowl of fried potatoes (yikes!!) who maintained their dignity by being served alongside a fiery dip of turmeric ( you guessed right!!), yoghurt and timur.  I have to say that Mitchi doing her research and elaborating on timur saved the day for Nepal as having at least one original food product.  Timur looks like pepper but has a more pungent aroma and is used from spicing food to getting rid of leeches. Not our type of leeches . we took this first timur spiced course as an invitation to feast.

A small bowl of lightly fried fish followed. The fish was gently fried in a bed of spices and spring onions and turned out to be the right dish to tickle and awaken all parts of our hungry palate. This was chased down by a clay pot of fiery sake – allowing all of us a 15 second recap of the digestive trail in our body – and of course another pot of Sake and another pot of sake.. Who is counting.. Having consumed fish we felt obliged to give it some swimming medium.

The omnipresent Nepali Momos followed with its blandness embellished with a dip. The Lentil soup that came after was delicious and filling. Many varieties of Lentils were combined to give an aromatic and tasty start to the serious side of the dinner.  All of this was accompanied by the sweet lilting music from a small band of performers and the innocent but vigorous dance of the mountains. Close your eyes, see with your mind, listen deeply to the music and the earthy flavors emanating from your tongue, one can instantaneously glide over and observe an old world mountain lifestyle on lazy sake fuelled wings.

The gear shifts upward and a wonderful brass platter is put down in front of us, albeit a bit unceremoniously.  A line of waiters now starts to pass by and fill up the platter with colorful and wholesome looking food. Sauteed and spiced veggies, a bowl of aromatic dal, fried bitter gourd, chicken curry, steam wilted spinach and hot rice.. And  hold on.. wait for the piece de resistance – roasted wild boar. Now wild boar instantly transports you into Asterix and Obelix land, the numerous times I have drooled over my shirts while reading the comic and wanting to gatecrash the last feast with which each story invariably ends. Who can forget the silhouette of Obelix holding up a full roasted wild boar.

The meal was as tasty as it looked and was devoured by one and all with gusto. Second rounds of wild boar were greeted with enthusiasm and the sheer joy of feasting on Rustic Mountain cooking overflowed.  We polished off the meal with a small but cutely packaged desert of flavored yoghurt. Maybe we were too full, maybe a bit jaded from the feast and the sake, maybe just simply too tired, the desert did not make any mark.

The dancers on stage now decided to open up the performance to the audience and the fitter amongst our group got onstage for a amazing show of how one should dance after a hearty meal.  We were not sure if they were following the Nepali dancers or the other way around but  it was a lively end to a great evening experience replete with great food,  a cultural extravaganza and many foodie memories to treasure up.

To paraphrase the age old nursery rhyme..

Baa baa Nepali

Have you any food

Yes sir, Yes sir,

Three plates of Thakali food

           

One for my master

And one for my dame

And one for the hungry foodie

Who has come here from Dubai….