7/27/2019 Amazing recipes from Nepal: another cooking experience.

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Getting a taste of NepalNepali cookbook wins international award

8 CULTURE

hen Jyoti Pathak(pictured, right) wentto live in the United

States 40 years ago, she did herhousehold chores, spending a lotof time in the kitchen trying tomake Nepali meals for her doctorhusband and three children.

There were not too manyIndian spice shops in the remotecorner of New York state wherethey lived, and Jyoti had to relyon friends and family bringingmasala, gundruk, maseura andtama from Nepal.

There were some Indian cookbooks in the bookshops, butnothing about Nepali cuisine.That is when the idea to write aNepali cookbook first came to her.

Today, nearly four decadeslater, Jyoti has been awarded theBest Foreign Cuisine book in theGourmand World CookbookAward in the US for her book, ATaste of Nepal. Jyoti was inLondon last week to receiveanother nomination for her bookto be declared the best foreigncuisine book internationally.

There have been quite a fewNepali cookbooks that have comeout in the past 15 years. And,marching with these moreinclusive times, there are booksnow on Newari, Sherpa and evenThakali cuisine. Jyotis bookweaves in Nepals history andculture and how the food here has

been influenced by Tibetan andIndian culinary traditions.

Nepali food is characterisedby its simplicity, lightness and

healthfulness, she writes, atypical meal uses the freshestingredients, minimal fat andan artful combination of herbsand spices.

Observing the mountains ofrice that people eat on the foodstalls along Nepals highways,however, one could argue that itis the sheer volume of foodingested that makes Nepali dietunhealthy. Nepalis may have alow-fat diet, but the middle classODs on carbs and does very littleexercise to burn it off.

Jyotis recipes include thesimple mutton curry, and sheuses the elaborate and exoticsounding Dahi Haleko Boka-Khasiko Masu which is

guaranteed to make the diasporaNepalis mouth water just hearingabout it. Then there are themomos and raw marinated water

buffalo and even the Basi BhatBhutuwa, the ingenious Nepaliway to re-use leftover rice for anappetising snack.

A Taste of Nepaldoesnt leaveout the ingredients and recipesthat make Nepali food differentfrom Indian or Tibetan: AluTama, Gundruk Bhatmas ko Jhol,Maseura Alu, Jimbu, Lapsi koAchar, Kalo Dal. Nepalis abroadmay find it difficult to find theseingredients, but with 15 percentof Nepalis now living outsideNepal it is only a question oftime before stores spring up

A Taste of NepalHippocrene Books, 2007Hardcover 470 pagesISBN 10: 078181121X

stocking up on jimbu andlapsi too.

Jyoti held long-rangeconsultations with her family

back home in Nepal andresearched the 350 recipesthoroughly. I used to cook witha pinch of this and a dash of that,

but in preparing the book Iactually had to go out andmeasure everything,she says.

Because it is primarilywritten for the western audience,the book has made it easy byincluding the masalas usuallyfound in the ethnic food sectionof any US or Europeansupermarket.zwww.tasteofnepalcookbook.com

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