Bog Lag Yo? (Are you hungry?)

Dal Baht
Always composed of rice and a soupy lentil mix
Will include any of the following: ‘saag’ (cooked spinach), ‘aloo’ (potato with spices), cauliflower and green beans in curry, dried ratish with spices, and chicken.
Dal Baht can be eaten with a fork, but I have been eating it with my hands (the traditional way). Much like in Senegal, you use your right hand fingers to mix the vegetables and rice that you want to use and you scoop it all up into your fingers. Then, using your thumb you kind of push it into your mouth. Though my first handful of dal baht was a disaster (I got it all over me, as Muna’s parents watched in amusement), I have gotten rather good at eating with my hands and have actually made Muna and her parents quite proud in front of others on a number of occasions.

We eat dal baht for almost every meal, but occasionally we will have another meal which is composed of roti (Indian style bread, similar to a pita wrap) served with yoghurt, dal (the lentil mix), curry, and vegetables

Other common dishes (snacks or light meals):
– momo (chicken, vegetable or buffalo) – looks kind of like a peroggie but is dipped in a spicy masala mix
– pani pouri – a round bowl shaped cracker that has potato and a spicy liquid (“pani” means water) in it; you have to put the whole thing in your mouth at once and it’s fun to eat because the cool liquid explodes in your mouth
– samosa (my favorite) – a pastry stuffed with peas, potatoes and spices
– macay – corn served any kind of way, though generally it’s popcorn
– aloo dum poori – spicy potato masala served with fried roti
– sale roti – donut shaped fried rice bread (side note: Nepali people love to fry rice in all different kinds of ways. I’ve probably had 10 different fried snacks made of rice)

For breakfast I have been eating white toast every day. I just bought a jar of peanut butter, though, so I am happy. The first few days there were guavas in the backyard so I got to have a few of those too, but now guava season is over. They also have papayas in the backyard but none of them are ripe yet. By far the most popular fruit is “sunthala” or mandarin oranges. I’ll usually eat one of those with breakfast too.

There are two kinds of tea here:
1) dood chiya – milk tea; an acquired taste, but after a week in Pokhara and in the village visiting family, I definitely acquired it. This is probably the national drink because it’s served whenever someone is receiving guests.
2) Lemon tea – different than lemon tea you may be familiar with because it’s just normal tea with real lemon squeezed into it; I loved it from the first sip.

Well, that’s all I can think of on the topic of food… for now.