Nepali Thali: Daal Bhat Tarkari ( Nepali platter)

[This blog is dedicated to my friend Snehesh and his fiance Ninkka who poked each other via Facebook group "Daal Bhat Tarkari" and now have decided to poke each other via "marriage" for rest of their life. Congratulations to both of you and may god bless u. You always been a great support to me. And I hope you will find my blog useful once you decide to cook more Nepali food. And don't worry. I will definitely add Newari food.]

Finally after two years I get to spend a week with my siblings, together in FL. Our gathering is incomplete without Nepali food. After a week of consuming so much of non-vegetarian food, everyone was looking for some change. Nepali platter seem to fit perfectly into everyone appetite. Well I am not professional but I try my best in sharing it with you. The food is served in typical Nepali glass, plate and bowls. Food looks quite simple but it took me almost 2 hours to cook everything. The food served here is basmati rice, egg-curry, mushroom curry, potato pickle and lentils. Nepali platter is incomplete without greens, meat, curd and dessert. I will be posting other stuff later on. This blog might come up as confusion. so do not hesitate to ask me.

Rice: Easiest way to cook rice is in the rice cooker. Cooking rice in any pot is easy but tricky. Rinse and pour rice to the pot. Add sufficient water. Let it boil at medium heat for 7-10 mins. After water starts boiling, check rice by squeezing it with your fingers. Well you will notice the difference. Once it's done, adjust heat to low and drain out water. Close the lid and let the steam do the rest of the job.

Lentils: I use pressure cooker. But to cook it in a pot you will have to soak it in water at least 5-6 hrs prior to your cooking. Boil it for half an hour in low-medium heat. Add salt. Check its texture. After it's done, take another pan, heat little bit of oil, add turmeric, small diced onions, tomatoes and crushed garlic. After it turns brown, add lentils. Turn off the heat. Serve it thick or add more water to it as you like.

Mushroom curry: Heat sufficient oil in a pan, add turmeric. Add onion, after it turns brown add garlic and ginger paste. After the paste turns brown add tomato paste. Mix it well and cook it for few minutes till tomato thickens. Add coriander powder and cumin powder. Let it blend well with the gravy. Add mushroom to it. Mix it well. Lower the heat. Cover it with lid. Keep on checking in every 4-5 mins. Add salt to your taste. Sever it tender or mushy. Garnish it with some cilantro.

Egg-curry: Boil some eggs. Cut boiled eggs into two pieces and fry it till its dark brown. Put it aside. Heat oil in another pan. Add turmeric, in abt 10 seconds add onions. Fry it till its brown. Add garlic paste and fry it till its light brown. Add tomato paste and cook it for a while. Add meat masala, cumin and coriander powder. And don't forget to add some salt. Fry it about 10 minutes and add green peas to it. Five minutes more of cooking and it should be done. Add eggs before serving.

Potato pickle: Dice the boiled potatoes. Add green peas, red chili powder, salt, cilantro. In a pan heat oil. Add fenugreek seed. Add asafoetida powder, turmeric. Put the pan away from the heat and pour it over the diced potatoes along with other stuff. Add lime juice and green chillies and mix it well.

I hope this will at least give you some idea about my platter. Just notice how often spices are repeated in every other food. Once you know this, cooking our kind of food becomes easy. Hope u like it. Stay healthy!!