However, with all the fatty meat dishes and sweets that you eagerly gobble up during the festive season, you could easily wind up getting too full. [break]
To balance your platter of food this Dashain, try out some tangy achar or pickles, side dishes and soups that not just give a good kick to your tastebuds but also help you digest all that food.
The Week brings you a selection of five tangy delights to add some zing to your hearty Dashain delicacies.
Kerauko achar
(Nepali peas pickle)
Serving – For five people
This is one of the most popular Nepali achars often taken as a side dish with Chiura (beaten rice), bhujiya and puri. It also serves as an appetizer for people who love tangy and spicy pickles.
Ingredients
Dry green peas soaked overnight – 200 grams
Small dry green peas soaked overnight – 200 grams
Dry roasted sesame seeds (black) – 50 grams
Cucumber – 100 grams
Radish – 100 grams
Green chillies – 5
Ginger garlic paste – Half tablespoon
Boiled potato – 100 grams
Methi (fenugreek) – 1 teaspoon
Dried red chilli powder – 1/2 teaspoons
Turmeric – ½ teaspoon
Cumin powder – ½ teaspoon
Dried red chilli – 2
Mustard oil – 2 tablespoons
Boiled and mashed lapsi paste (seeds removed) – 2 tablespoons
Coriander for garnishing
Salt to taste
Method
• Chop the cucumber, radish, green chillies and boiled potato into small bite-sized pieces.
• Drain and wash the soaked peas.
• Mix the peas with the chopped vegetables in a large bowl.
• Make a paste of the dry roasted sesame seeds and mix the ginger garlic paste as well as the mashed lapsi paste.
• Put the mixed paste into the bowl with the peas and vegetables, add red chilli powder, cumin powder and salt to taste and mix evenly.
• In a saucepan, heat mustard oil and add in a teaspoon of fenugreek and two dried red chilies for tempering. Add turmeric to the oil and quickly pour it over the mixture of spices and chilies. Mix evenly and garnish with chopped coriander.
Note: You could replace lapsi paste with freshly squeezed ½ tablespoon lime or lemon juice for the tanginess.
Tomato Achar with paneer
(cottage cheese)
Serving – For five people
This is a tomato gravy-based achar that can be served as a side dish. It goes well with Chiura, rice, pulao, puri or even plain rotis.
Ingredients
Chopped tomatoes – ½ kg
Paneer – 200 grams
Dried fish – 25 grams
Soybean oil – 100 ml
Green chllies – 5-7
Fresh green peas – 100 grams
Chopped onions – 50 grams
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tablespoon
Turmeric – ½ teaspoon
Cumin powder – ½ teaspoon
Coriander for garnishing
Salt to taste
Method
• In a frying pan, heat one tablespoon oil. Roughly break the dried fish into pieces and fry till crisp. Remove the fish from the pan and keep it aside.
• Similarly, heat one tablespoon oil again and fry the green peas and green chillies for ½ a minute and keep it aside in another container.
• Repeat the same with paneer and make sure to fry it till golden brown.
• Again, heat two tablespoon of oil. Add ginger garlic paste and lightly stir it till light brown. Add turmeric, cumin powder and red chilli powder, mix lightly and quickly and add the chopped onions. Stir until light brown; then add chopped tomatoes.
• Let it simmer till the tomatoes soften and add in the previously fried fish, peas, chilies and paneer.
• Add salt to taste; add a little warm water just enough to make a gravy of the recipe.
• Put it on low heat for five minutes.
• Pour the gravy achar in a bowl and garnish with chopped coriander.
Note: You can replace paneer with tofu or masyaura.
Khalpiko Achar (Cucumber pickle)
For a 500-gram container
This is one of the famous traditional fermented pickles of Nepal made from Khalpi or mature cucumbers. The pickle, with its strong taste, is a delight with the regular Dal-Bhaat-Tarkari meal and an added zing even in the most lavish Dashain feasts.
Ingredients
Khalpi or mature cucumber – 1 kilo
Green chilli – 5-7
Cumin powder – 2 teaspoons
Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder – 1/½ teaspoon
Turmeric – ½ teaspoon
Ground mustard – 2-3 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Method
• Peel the outer dark green skin of the Khalpi or cucumber. Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Wash it properly and chop it into bite-size pieces.
• Put the cut pieces in a large bowl and generously sprinkle salt.
• Leave it in the sun for 15-20 minutes. Then drain the water out of the cucumber.
• Repeat the third step for two or three times.
• Then add turmeric, red chili powder, cumin, powder, coriander powder and ground mustard seeds, salt to taste, and mix it evenly in kneading motion.
• Pour in two tablespoons of mustard oil and store the mixture in an airtight glass container and keep it out in the sun.
• After each two days, press the pickle with spoon. Remove the excess water and keep it separate in a bowl so that the spices can settle. Then throw the water and mix the spices to the pickle again.
• After 4-5 days, the pickle will be ready to savor.
Mulako achar (Radish pickle)
For a 500-gram container
Mulako achar is another big hit amongst Nepali families. The traditional fermented pickle with its sharp and mouthwatering flavor is one of the favorite side dishes with a Nepali meal, along with chiura, bhujiya and rotis.
Ingredients
Fresh radish – 1/2 kilo
Green chilli – 5-7
Red chili powder – 1½ teaspoons
Turmeric – ½ teaspoon
Ground mustard seeds – 2 tablespoons
Ground Raayo (black mustard) seeds – 1 tablespoon
Ginger pieces – 25 grams
Garlic pieces – 5 cloves
Timbur (Nepali Sichuan pepper) – 5 seeds
Mustard oil – 4 tablespoons
Salt to taste
Method
• Cut the radish into small bite-sized pieces and dry in the sun for 3-4 hours.
• Put the radish pieces into a large bowl and add turmeric, red chili powder and salt to taste.
• In a small bowl, add ground mustard seeds into the mustard oil and mix evenly.
• Pour the mixture of oil and mustard seeds into the bowl with the radish pieces and throw in garlic cloves cut into halves and pieces of ginger along with ground timbur and mix it evenly with kneading motion.
• Store it in an airtight glass container with a clean plastic over the lid and leave it in the sun.
• After each two days, give the container a good shake so that the spices don’t remain settled at the bottom.
• The pickle will be ready to taste in 10-12 days.
Lapsiko jhol or Paun (Lapsi soup)
Serving – For five people
This lapsi-based soup is literally a lip smacking liquid of tanginess. Usually slurped down after a traditional Newar feast, just before the desserts roll in, the flavorful soup takes away any fatty taste in your mouth and also helps in digestion.
Ingredients
Lapsi – 250 grams
Hing (Asafetida) – ½ teaspoon
Cumin powder – ½ teaspoon
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tablespoon
Red chilli powder – 1 tablespoon
Turmeric – 1 teaspoon
Methi (fenugreek) – 1 teaspoon
Coriander for garnishing
Black salt to taste
Method
• After boiling the lapsi, peel them off. Grind the peeled skins into a paste. Also, mash the flesh of the fruits into a gooey paste and remove the seeds.
• Mix the lapsi flesh and skin paste and add 1/2 liter water to make soup consistency liquid.
• Add in black salt to taste and asafetida and cumin powder and stir gently.
• For tempering, heat one and a half tablespoons of oil and crackle in methi seeds till they turn black. Add ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, turmeric, and quickly pour it over the cold soup.
• Mix in the spices in the soup to evenly distribute the flavors.
• Garnish with freshly chopped coriander.
Note: The soup can also be made into a sweet and sour soup by adding sugar as per your liking.
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