Piro Aloo Dum (Hot & Spicy Potato Curry)

Warning: This is a very hot potato curry.

I got this recipe from my bestie from primary school. She went to boarding school in Darjeeling after her primary schooling. This is where she found this dish and loved it. She promised me that she will make this cracking aloo dum for me one day as it’s her signature dish. But I never got to taste it because shortly after her return to Nepal, I moved to Australia.

Sometime ago, I reminded her that she still owes me piro aloo dum. So she sent me this recipe for me to try it.

I’ve made this few times. It’s so delicious and hot. It goes really well with puris (deep fried puffed breads).

Here’s my take on piro aloo dum.

Ingredients

10-12 small red chat potatoes 3 teaspoons of nigella seeds
3 teaspoons of lovage seeds
2 teaspoon of fennel seeds
2 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds
3 large tomatoes
10 dried red chillies (or as per your liking)
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
Salt to taste
3 tablespoons of oil

Boil whole potatoes, until soft and peel and cut them into quarters. Set aside.

Boil tomatoes and chillies in a pot, until tomatoes are mushy and soft.

When tomatoes have cooled down, blend tomatoes and chillies to make a thick purée. Set aside.

Heat oil in the pot and add all the seeds. When it starts to pop, add tomato purée, turmeric powder and salt. Cook the mixture for 2-3 minutes.

Add boiled and cubed potatoes and mix well with the gravy. Simmer it for 5-10 minutes on low heat so the potatoes soaks up the flavour.

Serve hot with puris or steam rice. Enjoy.

Chicken Chowmein (Nepali-style Chowmin)

This is a simple and no fuss cooking for a fast lunch or dinner. Rather than spending on takeaways or eating junk food, I prefer making quick fix like this dish. It is home cooking at it’s best as it’s simple, easy and tasty too.

You can find this dish in every corner restaurants or in street stalls in Nepal. The ingredients differs from place to place as it’s your own interpretation to suit your need. You can put loads of other ingredients like mushroom, spring onion,eggs or seafood or any other meat. So go nuts.

Here’s my version of Chicken Chowmein.

Note: I added chicken as a topping because I have to cater for vegetarian in the family. Otherwise you would add chicken to hot oil, fry it for few minutes, then add veggies and sauce and noodles.

Ingredients
2 small sized onion sliced thick
2 gloves of garlic chopped finely
Fresh ginger julienned
1/2 of capsicum julienned
1/4 of cabbage finely chopped
1/2 a carrot julienned
400 grams of thin spaghetti pasta or Chowmein noodle (Asian Grocery)
400 grams of chicken breast or thigh fillets
Salt as per taste
2 teaspoon dark soy
2 teaspoon of vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce
2 teaspoon chilli paste
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
3 tablespoon of Oil

Boil water in a large pot. Add a teaspoon of salt and a dash of oil to a boiling water so pasta doesn’t stick. Add thin spaghetti and cook it al dente.

While spaghetti is cooking, heat pan in high heat. Add oil. When oil is smoking, add garlic and sauté for few seconds. Then add onion, carrots, capsicum and toss it for 20 seconds. Add cabbage and mix.

Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, chilli paste, and salt. Toss it for few seconds.

Add spaghetti drained straight from the pot. Toss spaghetti with the mix and cook for 2 minutes. It’s ready to be served as a vegetarian alternative.

For non veg, heat pan in a oil and add chicken. Fry it for 3-5 minutes until it’s golden brown or as per your liking. Add salt and cumin.

Mix chicken wit Chowmein and serve it with ketchup and chilli sauce.

Golveda ko Achar (Grilled Tomato and Coriander)

Achar (pickles) are integral part of nepali and newari cuisine. It’s served with every meal as it always add that extra punch and flavour hit to rice, daal and curry.

There are so many varieties of achar. Some are made on daily basis with fresh produce meals, others are pickled and preserved as per my previous post of daikon radish pickle.

Nepali cuisine is all about celebrating fresh and organic produce. It’s simple cooking with best fresh vegetables, herbs and meats.

We go and buy fresh produce twice a day in the local market. The best seasonal produce (fruits and vegetables) are brought straight from farm at the market by farmers and they sell it direct to consumers. There are no stalls, vendors just lay their products in the basket in designated area of the market. It’s an instant pop up market for few hours in the morning and night.

Most people didn’t have fridges and buying and cooking fresh produce twice a day was norm.

I remember when I was about 8-9 years old, I used to go to these market in the mornings with my sisters. We used to bargain and buy all these beautiful produce. Even the memory of these markets enthralls me. The sight, sound and smell used to lift my spirits. I still cherish those memories.

The recipe I’m sharing today is a very simple yet it celebrates the fresh produce and brings out the best.

I made this achar for last night’s dinner along with black lentil daal, cauliflower curry and rice. It’s a classic flavours combination that I love to eat during cold winters in Kathmandu.
Here’s a nepali vegetarian meal I had last night.

I will share the recipe of cauliflower in future post but try this achar. It’s dead simple, rustic and goes really well with meat or vegetable curry and steamy hot momos.

Ingredients
5 small sized tomatoes
1 cup of chopped of coriander
4 dried chillies
Salt to taste
10-12 sichuan peppers

Heat oil in the pan and fry dried chillies until it’s black. Remove it from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, put quartered tomatoes skin side down. You can use grill to roast the tomatoes or even open fire or charcoal. For added flavour char the skin of tomatoes.

Once the skin is charred, reduce heat to low and cook tomatoes for 10-15 minutes. The prolong cooking of tomatoes will extract water and concentrate tomatoes to enhance the flavour.

In a mortar and pestle, add fried dry chillies, salt, sichuan peppers, coriander and pound it to make a rough paste. ( you can use blender but I’m very old school and believe that grinding in mortar pestle gives it more flavour).

Add tomatoes and grind it with the mix to make a thick paste consistently. It’s ready to be served with your favourite meal even pasta.

Black Lentil patties topped with mince meat and egg (La woh)

This is one of the most authentic newari food at its best. Newari cuisine is epitome of culinary delights. The recipe are very authentic yet simple. The recipes are mostly based on fresh ingredients like buffalo meat, fresh vegetables, herbs, legumes and spices.
The recipe I’m about to share is one of the popular newari dish. If you are a vegetarian, you could make the lentils patties without meat and egg. Traditionally woh (lentil patties without meat and egg) are used for sagun. Sagun is basically a newari ritual where you bless a person who’s going to embark on a journey or for achievements, birthdays or any auspicious occasion. Sagun starts with puja (ritual involving putting vermillion and rice grains with flowers to pray to hindu god) of Ganesh ( hindu god) and then of the person who’s receiving a blessing. It’s followed by giving boiled and fried egg, dried whole fish ( kunya) , woh, yogurt and spirit called aila (homemade alcoholic drink made from rice or millet and look and taste like tequila).

There are few variations of this recipe you could try. You can alternatively use mung beans. Mung beans are healthier and full of nutrients and easy on stomach. You can also add chopped onion and coriander to lentil mix to add more flavour and texture.
With mince, instead of adding it as topping, it can be mixed through the mix.

I’m posting this authentic recipe inspired by a very famous local shop in Patan called Honacha. It’s a small local shop with a rooftop dining serving best of newari cuisine like lawoh, chhoila(grilled spicy buffalo- will share recipe in future post), piro aalo (spicy potato) and much more. It’s a family business which has been running for generations. It’s always packed with locals as it’s cheap and tasty. I quite like the rooftop dining as you can enjoy the view of Krishna mandir (temple) and durbar square and munch down all these delicacies. I miss the spicy, hot dishes so much that I try to recreate these recipe at home. I’m a food enthusiast and love discovering new recipes, cooking and eating it especially Nepali cuisine. As I previous mentioned my hubby is from different town. He has tried few newari dishes but he doesn’t know about these local jewels where you can get mind blowing food. I tell him about all these local places where you can get great food and I’ve promised him that I will take him to all these places when we go for a visit ( we haven’t been back to our place as a couple yet).

Let’s get started now.

Ingredients

250 grams of Black lentils ( you can get it from indian grocery shops. Get the ones where skin has already been removed, trust me so much easier if it’s skinless)
250 grams of mince ( buffalo if available, if not I use lamb mince)
Eggs (one for a patty)
2 tablespoons of fresh ginger paste
1 tablespoon of fresh garlic paste
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1/2 tablespoon chilli powder
Salt as per taste
Pinch of asafetida
Oil

Soak lentils overnight. Rub the lentils to take the skin off and wash it in the water. The skin will float on the top so drain it and repeat the process until all the skin is washed off.
I used the skinless lentils which I soaked for overnight and then washed it under the tap until the water runs clear.

Blend it with half a cup of water to make a fine paste.

Pour mix in a bowl. Add pinch of asafetida, salt, cumin and ginger paste and mix through.

In a separate bowl , put mince and add ginger paste, garlic paste, chilli, salt, cumin and some oil and mix through. The mince is ready.

Heat pan on low heat. Put a teaspoon of oil in the pan. Take a small amount of lentil and make a ball in your hands. Use some water while shaping it into small balls so it doesn’t stick in your hands. Gently put it in the pan and with wet spatula spread it thin about 2 cm thin. Top it of with thin layer of mince on lentil patty and egg. Cook on a on gentle heat for 2-3 minutes and then flip the patty. Cook it for few minutes and and it’s ready to be served.
It is used served with buffalo meat curry gravy to enhance the flavour but can be eaten as it is. Will share a goat curry recipe in later posts. Till then enjoy this delicacy.