Food of Nepal
Nepali cooking is simple, wholesome and shaped by mountains: rice, lentils and seasonal vegetables are the daily staples, while hill communities add millet, buckwheat, potatoes and yak dairy. Cumin, coriander, turmeric, timur pepper and fresh chutneys (achar) add flavor. Dumplings, pickles, soups and tea are loved everywhere, and the Newar community of Kathmandu Valley adds its own elaborate dishes.
Dal bhat
The daily meal of lentil soup, rice, vegetable curry and pickle.
How to make Dal bhat- Main dishes (5)
- Breakfast (3)
- Street food (4)
- Soups (2)
- Salads (3)
- Breads (2)
- Desserts and sweets (5)
- Drinks (3)
- Fruits and produce (5)
Staples
- rice
- lentils
- potato
- buckwheat
- millet
- yak cheese
- greens
Signature flavors
- cumin
- timur
- turmeric
- coriander
- ginger
- fenugreek
- jimbu
Main dishes
The daily meal of lentil soup, rice, vegetable curry and pickle.
Key ingredients: rice, lentils, vegetable curry, greens, acharFull guide →Thick buckwheat or millet porridge eaten with gundruk or meat.
Key ingredients: buckwheat or millet flour, water, ghee
Noodle soup with meat and vegetables from the Himalayas.
Key ingredients: noodles, vegetables, meat, ginger, garlic
Marinated meat grilled over charcoal.
Key ingredients: goat or chicken, ginger, garlic, cumin, timur
Lentil soup with ginger and cumin.
Key ingredients: lentils, ginger, cumin, turmericFull guide →Breakfast
Ring-shaped sweet rice bread, fried until crisp.
Key ingredients: rice flour, sugar, butter, cardamom
Beaten rice served with curry and pickle.
Key ingredients: beaten rice, potato curry, pickleVegetable curry with flatbread.
Key ingredients: roti, vegetables, spicesStreet food
Steamed or fried dumplings with spiced filling and tomato sauce.
Key ingredients: flour, ground buffalo or chicken, onion, ginger, tomato acharFull guide →
Crunchy spicy snack mix of puffed rice, noodles, onion and lime.
Key ingredients: puffed rice, noodles, onion, lime, chili
Crushed samosa with chickpeas and chutneys.
Key ingredients: samosa, chickpeas, yogurt, tamarindFull guide →
Crisp shells with spiced water.
Key ingredients: puri, potato, tamarind waterFull guide →Soups
Momo served in spiced soup.
Key ingredients: momo, tomato, sesame, chiliMountain mushroom soup with butter.
Key ingredients: mushrooms, butter, onionSalads
Spiced radish pickle.
Key ingredients: radish, sesame, chiliFresh tomato chutney.
Key ingredients: tomato, garlic, chili, cilantroCucumber with spices and lime.
Key ingredients: cucumber, timur, limeBreads
Everyday flatbread.
Key ingredients: whole wheat, waterFried bread eaten with honey or tea.
Key ingredients: flour, yeast, oilDesserts and sweets
King of yogurt from Bhaktapur.
Key ingredients: buffalo milk, sugar, cardamomFried milk dough balls in syrup.
Key ingredients: khuwa, flour, sugar
Sweet rice cooked with milk and sugar.
Key ingredients: rice, milk, sugarFull guide →
Thick sweet yogurt with nuts.
Key ingredients: yogurt, sugar, cashews
Reduced milk solids sweets.
Key ingredients: milk, sugarDrinks
Spiced milk tea.
Key ingredients: tea, milk, ginger, cardamomFull guide →Tibetan salty butter tea.
Key ingredients: tea, butter, salt
Yogurt drink.
Key ingredients: yogurt, sugarFull guide →Fruits and produce
Sweet mangoes from the southern plains.
Key ingredients: fresh, juiceFull guide →
Apples from Mustang.
Key ingredients: fresh, dried, juice
Juicy hill oranges.
Key ingredients: fresh, juice
Eaten as a vegetable or fresh.
Key ingredients: curry, freshFull guide →
Eaten fresh or as juice.
Key ingredients: fresh, juiceFull guide →Dish guides from Nepal
More cuisines of Southern Asia
Descriptions written by Intercontinental Chef. Dishes are listed as commonly eaten today; many are shared across neighbouring countries.
- Thukpa, Tibetan noodle in Osaka, Japan: m-louis from Osaka, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Sekuwa: Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- 3 types of lentil: User:Justinc, CC BY-SA 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Sel Roti: Swapnil Acharya, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Poha: Sanjay Acharya, aka Sanjay ach at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Momo nepal: Kushal Goyal, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Behael Puri (6105489342): Barry Pousman from New York, NY, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Samosas, snack food at Wikipedia's 16th Birthday celebration in Chittagong (01): Moheen Reeyad, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Pani Puri1: Sruthi612, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Kheer: stu spivack, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Shrikhand london kastoori: Secretlondon, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Khuwa vendor nepal: Kushal Goyal, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Chai In Sakora: Dadhichbittu007, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Salt lassi: Raksanand, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Mangos - single and halved: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- 95apple: Agricultural Research Service (Research agent of United States Department of Agriculture), Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
- Oranges - whole-halved-segment: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- The jackfruit is holding on to the tree: This work was made by Tushar Hossain and released under the license(s) stated below. Please feel free to use it for any, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Carica papaya - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-029: Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
