I've reached that state of nostalgia for the previous country, so here goes a little commentary on some of Nepal's cuisine.
Momos - If I'm honest, momos are nothing to write home about, they are essentially a spicier curry version of chinese dumplings, usually stuffed with vegetable, chicken or buff meat. After returning from the momo festival complete with momorabilia (i <3 momos aprons, photos taken with the momo man), having tried sweet, salty, vegetarian, and fusion momos, I felt that the tastiest part of the momo was not the momo itself, rather the spicy sauce which accompanies it. A light, tomato based sauce which tricks you into dunking your momos to the fullest and stuffing them in your mouth before realizing its hella spicy. Amnesia is also a side-effect since 5 minutes after the fire gone down in your mouth you proceed to repeat the process all over again.
Chhurpi - extremely hard dried yak cheese with a stronger scent than flavour, which when you first pop it in your mouth tastes like swiss cheese with a hint of yak. Seriously. Imagine what a yak would taste like, kind of like the smell of a goat and a cow mixed together and you've got yak. So you pop it in your mouth, it's cut up into 1cm max 1.5 cm cubes, dark brown or yellow gray in colour, and you suck on it till it goes bland. I've been sucking on mine for a good ten minutes and tiny flecks are starting to crumble off the sides, but it still pretty much has the consistency of petrified cheese.
According to Wikipedia, chhurpi is a smoked cheese eaten in the Eastern Himalayas, very common among the Sherpas. It is made out of yak or chauri (cow-yak hybrid) buttermilk, which is pressed into a cloth and squeezed till no more juices remain. This is then allowed to dry until a cheese consistency is attained. After being cut up into tiny pieces, the little cubes are smoked senseless until the reach their petrified state. Twenty minutes later and I'm still breaking my teeth on this little cube. Tell you what though, normal yak cheese is tasty. Tastes like cheddar and bacon with the consistency of swiss cheese and a hint of dirt.
Curried potatoes - the sole reason I am surviving in this wretched country. I kid, this country isn't wretched. Only sometimes. Back to the potatoes though, particularly curried potatoes baked, boiled, fried (I don't know what they do with them) to resemble butter. They melt in your mouth with such satisfying flavour, rich spicy, every so slightly bitter from karella (bitter melon) the medicinal herb used to cure all gastrointestinal diseases under the sun. Bright yellow in color (the potatoes and their sauce) sometimes accompanied by dried pumpkin, another delicious treat, squishy and bursting with juices, and peas. How I miss these potato lunches.
Homeopathic Home remedies - Whenever I found myself suffering the side effects of street food, my landlady would sometimes bring me home made homeopathic concoctions to soothe my ailing stomach. The sweetest little lady who drove a hardbargain. Part of my overpriced flat's rent ensured that I could always make my way up those dark stairs into that dank curry smelling kitchen and she would make me a pot of herbalicious tea which would work its magic during the night and leave me fresh faced in the morning. Magic. On occasion when she was not at home, miso soup would work its magic. A slightly more drastic measure for getting rid of the bacteria, but miso soup certainly works wonders for the digestive tract.
Momos - If I'm honest, momos are nothing to write home about, they are essentially a spicier curry version of chinese dumplings, usually stuffed with vegetable, chicken or buff meat. After returning from the momo festival complete with momorabilia (i <3 momos aprons, photos taken with the momo man), having tried sweet, salty, vegetarian, and fusion momos, I felt that the tastiest part of the momo was not the momo itself, rather the spicy sauce which accompanies it. A light, tomato based sauce which tricks you into dunking your momos to the fullest and stuffing them in your mouth before realizing its hella spicy. Amnesia is also a side-effect since 5 minutes after the fire gone down in your mouth you proceed to repeat the process all over again.
Chhurpi - extremely hard dried yak cheese with a stronger scent than flavour, which when you first pop it in your mouth tastes like swiss cheese with a hint of yak. Seriously. Imagine what a yak would taste like, kind of like the smell of a goat and a cow mixed together and you've got yak. So you pop it in your mouth, it's cut up into 1cm max 1.5 cm cubes, dark brown or yellow gray in colour, and you suck on it till it goes bland. I've been sucking on mine for a good ten minutes and tiny flecks are starting to crumble off the sides, but it still pretty much has the consistency of petrified cheese.
According to Wikipedia, chhurpi is a smoked cheese eaten in the Eastern Himalayas, very common among the Sherpas. It is made out of yak or chauri (cow-yak hybrid) buttermilk, which is pressed into a cloth and squeezed till no more juices remain. This is then allowed to dry until a cheese consistency is attained. After being cut up into tiny pieces, the little cubes are smoked senseless until the reach their petrified state. Twenty minutes later and I'm still breaking my teeth on this little cube. Tell you what though, normal yak cheese is tasty. Tastes like cheddar and bacon with the consistency of swiss cheese and a hint of dirt.
Curried potatoes - the sole reason I am surviving in this wretched country. I kid, this country isn't wretched. Only sometimes. Back to the potatoes though, particularly curried potatoes baked, boiled, fried (I don't know what they do with them) to resemble butter. They melt in your mouth with such satisfying flavour, rich spicy, every so slightly bitter from karella (bitter melon) the medicinal herb used to cure all gastrointestinal diseases under the sun. Bright yellow in color (the potatoes and their sauce) sometimes accompanied by dried pumpkin, another delicious treat, squishy and bursting with juices, and peas. How I miss these potato lunches.
Homeopathic Home remedies - Whenever I found myself suffering the side effects of street food, my landlady would sometimes bring me home made homeopathic concoctions to soothe my ailing stomach. The sweetest little lady who drove a hardbargain. Part of my overpriced flat's rent ensured that I could always make my way up those dark stairs into that dank curry smelling kitchen and she would make me a pot of herbalicious tea which would work its magic during the night and leave me fresh faced in the morning. Magic. On occasion when she was not at home, miso soup would work its magic. A slightly more drastic measure for getting rid of the bacteria, but miso soup certainly works wonders for the digestive tract.
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