After a night chez Vij and in limbo between end of exams and our trip to Nepal, I was left wondering what the culinary experience would be like in Nepal. My last adventure to Peru was a very meat-and-potatoes experience, although there were some pleasant veggie surprises along the way. Preparing for Nepal, we had heard so much hype about the traditional Nepali meal of Dal Bhat, a generous bed of rice with a lentil “stew” and vegetable tarkari (curried vegetables). Would we be eating Dal Bhat all day, every day? Would it still be satisfying after four weeks? Would we find other savoury treasures while exploring Kathmandu’s restaurant scene? As a self-confessed foodie, these are the things that were crossing my mind and, on the ground in Nepal, I’m happy to report that fellow foodophiles will be pleased.
Today in an engaging lecture about vitamin deficiencies, one of the instructors used the image of treading carefully over a bamboo bridge. If I can take that out of the vitamin context and apply it here, we’ve been doing much of the same: trying to cross the gap from Canada to Nepal and have an authentic Nepali experience while treading carefully and avoiding the wicked travel-related gastroenteritis. I decided to be go vegetarian during this trip. There are some concerns about meat handling, food preparation, animal treatment, and sustainability, but these concerns aren’t exclusive to Nepal. Vij, don’t worry: I’ll probably be coming back for the lamb popsicles eventually. I thought that it would also make for an interesting challenge. The mission, should you choose to accept it: to find restaurants that offer vegetarian meals while consuming adequate protein intake. Fortunately, every restaurant we’ve visited so far has vegetarian options and some have been exclusively vegetarian.
Making a throwback to the HDI block (Host Defences and Infections), one rule of travel that’s stuck with us is that eating food from street vendors is an at-your-own-risk activity. How many fruit stands have I walked by, tempted by the bright flesh of watermelons and thick golden slices of mangoes? Or the sweet scent of freshly grilled corn? Or the fried doughnuts (sorry CA, I know they’re not heart healthy)? Dommage.
Don’ts aside, our first exposure to Dal Bhat happened on our first official day in Kathmandu. Kiley and I made friends with a Swedish student staying at our guesthouse who showed us around Thamel, the tourist district of the city. Raving about a fabulous combination of hummus with paprika and fried onions and mushrooms, he escorted us into OR2K on a quiet pedestrian-only street in Thamel. Kiley opted for the Dal Bhat and I selected the coconut curried vegetables. As expected, the Dal Bhat was filling – the lentils, warm and satisfying; the vegetable tarkari, spicy and crunchy. I have only glowing things to say about the veggies prepared in coconut milk and a delicate combination of spices. I could really get used to these.
Two days ago, we thought about experimenting with our own lentil curry. Didi at our guesthouse, however, is a bit of an expert in the kitchen and prepared the Dal portion for us. We insisted on preparing the vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, green peppers, onions, garlic, and ginger) with cashews and spices (tumeric, cumin, and coriander). So flavourful and so much fun to prepare in our own kitchen. I think our next target will be the hospital cafeteria – every morning on the way to PAHS, the scents wafting from the kitchen can make even the fullest of stomachs ready to receive more food.
I could drone on and on about food for hours. We’re trying to be safe about our food choices while keeping our taste buds stimulated. We’re discovering so many homecooked and restaurant dishes that will make me miss the Kathmandu food scene when we leave for India in a few weeks. Until then, let them eat Dal Bhat.
Holy Crap Mike, you should write for a food magazine!
ReplyDelete