Newar Community’s Food Culture
Among many different communities that exit in Nepal, the newar community is the major inhabitants of Kathmandu valley from time immemorial. The newar community have a rich culture in arts, music, religous ceromonies, entertainment and eating culture as well, which is different and distinct from other communities. The food culture of the newars have been handed down by several generations, and is still popular among the present day modern newars. In the present time, the inter mixing of people of different communities, have also resulted in the consumption of newars food by non-newars also. The newar food has a multi dimension and variety, and thus is liked by a vast majority of people, especially the Kathmandu dweller.
Here under are some food items that are popular among newars.
Momo, Bara and Chatamari are the three most commonly eaten
newari food, that are eaten as afternoon snack or a full dinner meal. For Momo,
minched meat (either buff or chicken) and fine-wheat flour are the two main
ingredients. For Bara, grounded pulse (Black pulse or green pulse) is the only
one ingredient need. For Chatamari, the base must be the rice flour base, with
pulse paste and minched meat are the three main ingredients.
Let us start with the simplest one – the Bara (or known as
Woo, in Newari). Every kitchen has a variety of pulses or lentils. The most
common is the black pulse (or Kalo dal) and green pulse (or Moong ko dal).
It is good to decide first which pulse to use and how much dry pulse needs to be
soaked. For 4 persons, then for having 4 pieces of Bara per person, it
will be enough if 3.5 to 4 cups of pulse is soaked. If you are
planning to have the Bara in the afternoon, it will be a good idea to soak the
pulse after lunchtime. Within 3 to 4 hours the pulse will be fully soaked. To
quicken the soaking process, luke-warm water can be used instead of cold water.
If a single person is preparing, the whole process of making Bara for 4 people should not
take more than an hour. If a helping hand is available, it will
both be fun and works can be divided.
After the pulses are fully soaked, clean the pulse
with water and let the pulse’s skins be removed - but it is not necessary that
you need to remove all the skins. Strain water and prepare to grind it in a mixie. In
one batch, put about a cup of soaked pulse and start to grind it – taking care
to stop the grinder every 30 to 40 seconds. If the pulses are finding difficult
to grind, add a little water. When the grinding forms a thick paste, add a
little water to make it easier to flow out of the grinding cup. Continue with
the remaining pulse. If you have a helping hand, s/he can prepare the necessary masala.
The main masala needed for Bara is the ginger. For 4 cups of
pulse, it will be good to use a good size of about 2 inches of ginger. Clean
the ginger’s skin and cut into small pieces and add it into the grinding cup,
while grinding the pulse. This way, it will not be necessary to separately make
ginger paste, which is a difficult job.
After all the pulse is nicely ground, other masala needs to
be added. Add salt, turmeric, and cumin powder into the mixture. If you are not
certain about the required quantity, then asking your mom will be the best way.
For Black Dal Bara, you do not need to add other items. Just
mix the mixture thoroughly and start making patty size on frying pan, by adding
small amounts of oil. Turn other side, when one side is brownish. Do not use
high heat, and allow to cook in medium heat and frequent over turn the patties.
For Green Dal Bara, you can add some minched dry onion and
green chillies too. Mix them thoroughly and fry them not making them more than
1 cm thick. You can use a spatula or wet fingers to spread and shape the
patties.
After its cooked, serve it with the remains of the Tomato
Achar, or Dhaniya Achar, or any other sauce type achars that might be available
from lunchtime.
Bara making is very simple, and not so time consuming either
– except for grinding the pulses. Nowadays, we can also find Black Dal powder
available in the market. However, the market’s dal power will be very fine, so the
extra-fine texture will not be good while eating the Bara. A little rough texture makes the Bara more chewy. So all newars, do not use dal flour available in the market for preparing Bara and prefer to grind the pulse at home.
Chatamari : a Newar's favorite
Chatamari is another popular snacks or whole meal for Newars. Most newars prepare this dish, especially during cold weather. It is more complete meal than Bara, and thus can be a dinner substitute.
For preparing Chatamari, mainly three ingredients must be prepared. One of them is the same mixture as for Bara, that is, mixture of black or green pulse paste. Another important mixture is the meat keema mixture. Buff meat is most suitable and preferred, but chicken can be equally good. Only the chunk lean meat must be used for making meat keema or minced meat. For 1 person, about 150 gms or 1 cup meat can be more than enough. For 4 people, about four cups of chopped meat can be munched in the grinder. In the minched meat, 1 whole garlic (about ten big cloves) and 2 inch ginger must be ground and made into paste. To this meat mixture, salt, cumin, chili, turmeric must be added. Two large spoon of mustard oil must be added and thoroughly mixed. It is best to add green garlic leaves finely chopped, which is available during winter season. This meat mixture is very similar to mixture for the momo.
Lastly, for the base batter, rice flour is needed. The quantity of rice batter should be approximately equal to the meat mixture. So, 4 cups of rice flour can be made into a thick batter - similar to batter for pancakes - in consistency. A thorough mixing is required to break all lumps and make the batter smooth.
It is now time for cooking the Chatamari. The tawa for making roti is best, but must also have a fitting lid to cover it during cooking. On a hot tawa, a spoon of oil is spread. First the rice batter , approximately, half a cup is speared on the tawa, evenly by a paddle, or by slowly rotating the tawa by hand. After laying the rice batter, the pulse batter is also spread on top of the rice batter, with the help of a spoon. But spreading by hand is also easy. On top of the pulse batter, the meat mixture is also spread evenly, by hand. Lastly, an egg can be cracked on top, at the center, but to avoid spilling, the center is little pressed so that the egg yolk remains of it. Some salt is sprinkled and some pepper powder can also be sprinkled. Mustard oil must also be sprinkled on top. After applying all the ingredients, the tawa must be covered by a tight lid, and the heat must be medium to avoid being burnt. After about five minutes, it is better to check the Chatamari if it well cooked. To make the outer crust crispy, additional few minutes can be cooked. Once you are sure that the meat is well cooked, then you can take it out to serve it.
Chatamari can be eaten with some achar. But it must be served steaming hot.
