Category Archives: [:ca]Receptes de cuina nepalesa[:en]Recipes of Nepalese Cuisine[:es]Recetas de cocina nepali[:]

River and fishing!!

Writed by Vanessa Martínez Lozano at the children’s home

It was 20 years since the last municipal elections in Bhimphedi, and for this reason there was one week of official holidays. We took the opportunity that we had holidays again and that it was very hot to go to the river many days!

While small kids enjoy the river and learn how to swim, some of the big boys are fishing.

After a while, by the river, a bit of sun to get warm.

Ready for fishing!!

We use the walks to the river to take pictures of the plants and later look for information about them. The kids know a lot about local plants properties and they love to search for new plants.

When we return to Balmandir everybody works together on cleaning and cooking the fish.

Sumit, Basu, Bisu y Kush are working toguether on cleaning the fish.
Sushil is in charge of cooking today!!

 

Alu chop

Written by Joana Alsina, volunteer of Bhimphedi Children’s Home.

Saturdays children are divided into three groups. One helps in the kitchen garden, one is responsible for cleaning and the third is responsible for cooking lunch. Saturdays we enjoy of wonderful recipes! Every Saturday morning, the big talking topic is “what will it be today for lunch? momos, pancakes, rotis, panipuri, samosas, croquettes, pasties, and pakauda…”. This Saturday Alu chop!

Are you ready to try?

after-cooking

Ingredients

  • 5 potatoes
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 2 cups gram flour (besan)
  • Massala (mix of species)
  • chilly
  • Coriander
  • ginger
  • garlic
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil
  • Water

How to make it:

  • Boil the potatoes (in the pressure cooker) and mash them after peeling.

potatoes

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  • Add the chopped onion, chillies, ginger, garlic, and salt and mix it well. Make sure the mixture is a bit lumpy.

onions

  • Divide the potato mixture into equal sized portions.

 

before-cooking

  • In one bowl, make a batter from gram flour and water.
  • Dip each alu chop in gram flour and fry.

cooking

And then it’s ready to serve and eat hot.

Bon appetit!

This Saturday, samosas as lunch!

Written by Joana Alsina, volunteer of Bhimphedi Children’s Home.

The samosa is a very common meal in Nepal, and in the children’s home we often eat them as lunch, but we had never cooked it ourselves, we always bought them outside. But this Saturday, thanks to the masterclass of a woman of the village,and Arjun’s help, we were able to cook them. Now we have a new recipe in Balmandir!

To make the filling:

  • 1 kg of potatoes
  • 500 g onion
  • Coriander
  • Masala (mix of aromatic herbs, to the taste of the consumer)
  • Chilli
  • Chickpeas
  • Tender garlic or other vegetables (optional)

To make the dough:

  • 500 g flour
  • A pinch of baking soda
  • Cold water
  • Salt
  • Aromatic herbs (dried celery flakes similar to oregano)
  • Clarified butter (ghee)

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To make this recipe we divide into two teams. While one team was preparing the filling of the other made the dough.

To make the filling:

  1. The night before we put the chickpeas in water and leave them to soak all night.
  2. After having cleaned the potatoes we put them to boil in the pressure cooker. Then we peeled them and put them in a large bowl to make the whole mixture of the filling.
  3. While the potatoes were cooking we also put the chickpeas on the fire and we cut the onion on moon shape,  the cilantro and tender garlic.
  4. We fried the onion slowly and once well cooked we added them it to the mixture, along with the chickpeas, the cilantro, the spices and the chili.
  5. We mixed everything with the hands and smashed the potatoes so there was no piece left. We used raw tender garlic, so in the filling there were different textures.

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To make the dough:

  1. We put in a bowl the flour and we melt the butter in a frying pan. Then we mixed with the flour and we began to knead.
  2. We added salt, baking soda, aromatic herbs and finally water. It should become a fairly consistent paste. Do not wait for it to rise.
  3. Then we started to make balls with the dough. Each ball would be the measure to make two samosas. With a roll we smashed the balls to form ovals. Then we cut them into two with a knife.

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To put the filling in the dough:

  1. Take the dough in the shape of a crescent mood with the hand, leaving the cut part with the knife facing up.
  2. Put some water with your finger on top to the right and then stick on the left side forming a kind of cone.
  3. Put the filling and then moisten the remaining piece of pasta and close it making a few folds. It was the first time we did it so every samosa had a different shape. Slowly we were perfecting the technique until we made equilateral triangles!
  4. Then we fried them in slowly oil until they looked pink. Once fried you should eat them soon, although they can be served cold, they are really delicious just after frying them.

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But the culinary day did not end there. That Saturday was Kamal’s birthday and we prepared Catalan cream for the night. Everyone had all loved this recipe when Tonyo prepared it for the first time. But this time we made an improvement, a cookie base crumbled with butter. We prepared it in individual glasses with a finish of burnt sugar and a biscuit that could be used as a spoon.

This dessert was the icing on the cake of a gastronomic Saturday where we learned how to make samosas and celebrated Kamal’s anniversary in the sweetest way possible.

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New recipe: Homemade Pasty

Written by Isabel Valero, Bhimphedi Children Home volunteer

The big ones are the first to begin the exams in less than one week. To study it takes a lot of energy, so we came to mind to make a special meal. We know that children love eating, and if it is the food that they have cooked, better!

So, on Wednesday was holiday because of the Sherpa New Year Eve, and to make the most of the day we proposed the smallest to cook for everyone! One of the kids, Som, had cooked a very good pie for volunteers, and we encourage them to repeat the experience this time for all the children and staff.

A second after the proposal, children were already discussing which specialty prepare and telling us what ingredients we should buy.

So Dani and me with the two most excited children (Som and Santa) went to buy the ingredients that we hadn’t in the shelter:

  • 3kg of meat
  • 5kg flour
  • 2kg cabbage
  • 1 kg of eggplant

We called this dish as “homemade pasty” as Balmandir style.

Here you have the video explaining step by step the procedure:

Mix the flour with water and salt; and mix them together.

When they were preparing the dough they came to mind that they could accompanied the pasty with a tasty tomato sauce! So we had to return to the shop to buy three kilos of tomatoes.

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1. Mix the flour with water and salt; and mix them together.
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2. Cut the vegetables
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3. Mix the vegetables and meat
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4. Flatten the dough aut the filling inside the pasty.
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5. Fry the pasty and remove when it get toast

Chopped tomatoes, a little cabbage, spices, chicken bones; all cooked in the fire to make a delicious sauce. And at two o’clock in the afternoon it was all ready to serve and eat!

ENJOY YOUR MEAL!

And after the meal, and again have energy to study for exams; come on! making the last effort of the year!