Nepalese is one of my favourite cuisines in the world. It’s one of the reasons we keep going back to Nepal, to indulge ourselves in some delicious curries, soups and dumplings. But what is Nepalese cuisine? Nepalese cuisine has similarities with the cuisines of nearby countries, Tibet (China) and India. This makes Nepalese cuisine a blend of Indian and Chinese influences. Bhutan isn’t far away from Nepal and some foods can be found throughout the Himalayan region. The dishes we’ve enjoyed in Nepal are very tasty, a little spicy, often vegetarian, and with a big focus on staples, like grains, breads and rice.
Dal Baht is the national dish of Nepal and it’s very good indeed, but there are also many curries, thalis, momos, noodle soups, and some very interesting dishes to be found in Nepalese food. You should also be able to find most Western dishes in Nepal, particularly in Kathmandu and Pokhara, major tourist destinations for trekkers and travellers.
In this post, we explain some of the best dishes to try from Nepal and give you some Nepalese recipes to make at home.
Nepalese Cuisine
We’ll start with a list of Nepalese dishes that you’ll likely find when exploring Nepalese cuisine. These are some of the most common dishes you’ll see on restaurants in Nepal.
Dal bhat (rice with dal soup and other accompaniments)
Thukpa (soup with noodles)
Momos (filled dumplings)
Tibetan bread
Dhindo (a thick buckwheat or millet paste, served with curries instead of rice)
Sel roti
Gorkhali lamb
Tarkaari (curry)
Gundruk
Sekewa
Nepalese Dal Bhat
Dal bhat is possibly Nepal’s national dish. The components that go into a dal bhat vary, but usually you will see at least the dal soup, the bhat, (the rice), and a vegetable dish, usually greens. Extra dishes like curd, popodoms and achar (pickle) are a bonus!
Dal bhat is the dish of choice in Nepal. With roots in Bengal, this meal consists of lentil soup (dal) with rice (bhat) and a seasonal vegetable or curry. The taste varies depending on which region you are visiting and some offer meat as an accompaniment while others have pickles or curd alongside the rice and lentil soup.
Most of the dal bhat we’ve eaten in Nepal hasn’t been very “spicy” at all. So don’t worry if you’re not fond of spicy food. Some of the pickles can be very hot though!
The flavors of India, Tibet, and more can be found in the dal bhat itself, and in the dishes that accompany it. Dal Bhat is similar to an Indian thali dish like those we had in Malaysia in the Indian community, as well as of course, in India. A thali is a collection of dishes, served separately on a large platter, with a mound of fresh white rice.
It’s always a good idea if you’re hungry when visiting Nepal to go for the Dal Bhaat because top-ups are traditionally offered for free. You’re unlikely to get the free top-ups at touristy restaurants but if you stray a little off the beaten track you’ll find them.
Nepalese Cuisine, Dal Recipes
I have my own recipe for dal bhat here, this is how I make dal bhat at home. In Nepalese cuisine, there are many dal recipes. Try making dal fry, dal jhaneko, or dal makhani. Dal makhani is traditionally Indian, but we’ve eaten it often in Kathmandu and in Nepal.
Momos
Nepalese momos, a staple of Nepalese cuisine. Momos in Nepal can be steamed or fried, can contain vegetables or meat, particularly buffalo “buff” and usually come with a sauce of some kind, spicy is best!
Nepalese dumplings, momo are usually filled with steamed vegetables or meat and encased in a flour-based dough that is then steamed or fried. Commonly eaten as snacks, they often come served with a delicious dip or spicy sauce. These are great Nepali treats and can be found as Nepali street food.
Look out for momos filled with cheese and potato. These should be safe for vegetarians. They’re a bit like Japanese gyoza.
Making momo is extremely difficult. I’ve taken a 2-day momo-making class and I’m a professional chef, I still can’t do it nearly as well as the people of the Himalayas. We’ve been told by Nepalese friends that the shape of the momo, be it round or crescent-shaped, shows its country of origin. Momos can also be found in Bhutan, Tibet, and India.
Nepalese Pulao
Pulao is a Nepalese version of fried rice made with vegetables or meats.
Rice is the foundation of many a meal in Nepalese cuisine, and there are plenty of ways to enjoy it. A common dish in Nepal, pulao is made by frying rice with turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, garlic, onions, chili and cumin, adding vegetables, nuts and dried fruits. Pair it with a fried eggplant curry from India or a delicious sag paneer (cheese and spinach) curry, or even mutton or goat.
Accompaniments to pulao can include yoghurt (curd), pickles and poppadoms and a Nepali pulao dish can be vegetable-based, or include meat.
Sel roti is a deep-fried, bagel-like rice bread from Nepal. It is a sweet dish like a cross between doughnuts and deep-fried French toast. This puffy sweet soft doughy treat can be enjoyed as breakfast or a snack on the go.
The Hindu festivals of Tihar and Dashain are good times to eat hot, freshly-made sel roti. You’ll find street vendors cooking this dish sometimes in Nepal. We’ve been able to find it at Kathmandu’s Durbar Square in the evenings.
Sel roti in Nepalese cuisine is similar to Tibetan bread in Tibetan cuisine. You will also find Tibetan bread, another deep-fried bread, in Nepal.
Nepalese vegetable thukpa soup. Thukpa can also contain chicken or meat, sometimes egg. See our recipes below.
In Nepalese cuisine, thukpas are thick hearty soups containing noodles and a variety of other ingredients. You can have veg thukpa, chicken, buff (buffalo) etc.
Thukpa is a hearty noodle soup from the mountains of Nepal and it can include meat, egg or just vegetables. It’s often served with an accompanying dish of momo, which are tasty dumplings filled with ground beef, buffalo, cheese, and/or veggies wrapped in dough before being steamed and/or fried.
A selection of Nepalese soups and thukpa on a menu in Pokhara, Nepal.
This traditional Nepalese soup dish is a perfect meal in the Himalayas if you’re looking for something warm and substantial.
Nepalese Soup Recipes
Sherpa stew. this Nepalese food is great fuel for the Sherpa people, and for hungry trekkers in the tea houses of the Himalayan treks
Nepalese soups and thukpas come in many varieties. Garlic soup is very common in the tea houses on the Himalayan treks in Nepal. I’ve been unable to find a Nepalese garlic soup recipe, but this creamy Indian version looks to be similar. I need to make my own Nepalese garlic soup recipe! The secret ingredient in ginger.
Sherpa stew is another classic Nepali soup served to trekkers in Nepal. Also known as syakpa or shukpa, ingredients vary, but the Sherpa stew tends to contain thich flat noodles, roughly torn into large pieces. Find a recipe for Sherpa stew here.
Gorkhali Lamb
Gorkhali lamb is a dish that embodies all the flavors and textures of Nepal. The curry features hearty ingredients like garlic, turmeric, ginger root, cumin seed powder, and coriander seeds with black pepper. These spices give Gorkhalis’ intense flavour profile.
The lamb is first slow-cooked in the curry with onions and potatoes before it’s removed, grilled, and sealed with a spicy chilli mix. It is then transferred back to the curry where it cooks for a few minutes more.
The lamb is served over rice or roti, or maybe naan and chapati. All of these carbohydrate staples are common in Nepal.
Dhido or Dhindo
Nepalese Dhindo as part of a thali.
Dhido is one of my favourite foods in Nepal. This food became more famous after being featured in the movie “Sherpa” where the Sherpas enjoy Dhido just before they head out onto the mountain.
We’ve eaten this in the “Tibetan Kitchen” restaurant in the Thamel area of Kathmandu and enjoyed it as an alternative to rice. The photo above is from that restaurant, a favourite of ours. It’s just off the junction where you’ll find the trekkers’ supermarket in the heart of Thamel.
Dhido is a hot paste dish made from buckwheat flour, water and butter. Think polenta or grits. It’s traditionally eaten with your hands along with soups, curries, and other accompaniments. It’s a replacement for rice in a Nepali thali. If you can find it on a menu, try it.
Other Dishes You Will Find in Nepalese Cuisine
Delicious paneer pakoda. Paneer is a type of cheese, deep fried in a gram flour batter and served with fresh tomato and chilli sauce, it’s delicious, but probably not very healthy! We would eat this as a light meal or starter in a Nepalese restaurant.
I had the opportunity to try many different kinds of food while exploring Nepalese cuisine, and most dishes I found to be really good.
Dal fry is another family favourite. It is a lentil curry soup with garlic, ginger, onions, tomatoes, chili peppers, coriander, cumin, turmeric, pepper, cardamom, and cloves. It’s spicy and really good! We normally eat this with chappatis, but rice would be good too.
Sometimes in Nepal, it’s hard to say if you’re eating Indian, Nepalese, or Tibetan food. This vegetable curry with deep fried puri was served in a restaurant in the south of Nepal, near the Indian border. As in every country, there is a blending and migration of dishes.
I also liked that there were so many vegetarian options available in Nepal. You may find channa (chickpeas), aloo mutter (potatoes and peas, the same as the Indian food we’ve eaten further south), palak paneer (spinach curry blended with cheese and spices).
Chicken curries can be great, but maybe it’s better to be safe and stay vegetarian when you are eating high in the mountains of Nepal.
Snacks & Street Food in Nepalese Cuisine
Nepalese cuisine has any number of snacks and street food dishes. The streets come to life around sunset when street food carts arrive Expect to see deep-fried sel roti (like a doughnut), puris with salads and pulses, meat on a stick cooked over a grill, pancakes or fritters fried in oil or on hot plate (like roti) as well as popcorn and samosas.
We recommend the freshly made doughnuts for sale from tiny shops around Durbar Square at night time.
You’re really experiencing your destination if you get off the beaten path and find these old-fashioned vendors on carts or barrows at night selling snacks. There are also more modern street food outlets selling momos, Egyptian falafel, and burgers.
Nepalese street food may worry some tourists, it may not be safe to eat. In general I don’t think it’s any less safe than restaurant food but be careful. We’ve occasionally been very sick in Nepal.
A simple restaurant in Nepal where we ate momos, naan, and many curries. Nepali khana means to eat, or to take food I believe.
Side Dishes in Nepalese Cuisine
Nepalese sides include crispy popadums, buffalo curd (yoghurt, the king of Nepali curds is called ju ju dhao), sliced raw carrots, cucumbers or tomatoes, cooked green veg, pickles, and chutneys like achaar, or a selection of vegetable curry side dishes (tarkari curry) as you would find in a thali.
Is Indian food and Nepalese food the same?
There is a lot of overlap between Nepalese and Indian cuisines and both feature curries. But Nepal also has plenty of non-spicy staples like thukpa or momos that have more of a Tibetan or Chinese influence. If you like Indian food you should enjoy Nepali food. North Indian cuisine tends to use cream, this isn’t as common in Nepali food.
You probably won’t eat much meat in the mountains. It’s expensive and not always fresh as it has to be carried up there on porter’s backs. So when your stomach starts rumbling on one of these long treks, remember that there are plenty of good dishes like dal baht, or fried potatoes, waiting for you at the end of the day. Every meal is accompanied by hot tea, often served in huge flasks. You can see our homemade version of Nepalese daal for daal bhat in our recipe above.
