Mirage

Ingredients

• 2 big radish
• 1 tsp Chili flakes or 2-3 Green chilis
• Mustard seeds, ground
• Methi seeds

Process

1. Peel the radish

Be sure to peel them, otherwise your achaar will contain a lot of fibers

2. Cut into slices, add to a pot, and put in fridge for 60-90 minutes

Cut the radish in long, fry-shaped pieces, adjust the size to the jar they will be stored in

3. After taking them out, remove the excess water that the salt has pulled out of the radish, dry with a towel or similar.

The salt will make the water come out

4. Add chili flakes and ground mustard seed. Take a teaspoon of besar and pour it in one spot over the radish to make a mound. Do not stir yet!
5. Fry methi with a lot of oil until black, pour over the besar.
6. Add to a medium-sized jar.
7. Let it sit in the sun for 3-5 days.

Recipe from Nepal, it is called the Newari pancake. Like pancakes, it is stupidly simple to make and consists only of daal, water, and spices.

Ingredients

• 100g Moong Daal / Black Daal
• 75ml Water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp curcuma
• ginger-garlic paste

Process

Add the daal to into a big bowl, cover with water and let it soak for a few hours or over night, if possible.

Once the daal ist soaked, remove the black covers, which will have separated from the seeds. You can do this by repeatedly filling the bowl with water and then emptying it, flushing out the covers with it. It is not needed to remove all covers.

Add the seeds into a blender with a bit of water. Don’t add too much to not make the mixture too runny. Add salt, turmeric and the ginger-garlic paste and blend.

Heat a pan to medium to high heat, add oil and bake like normal pancakes. Add oil before adding new batter if needed.

This recipe will yield about 4 - 5 bara.

Source

• bara-the-newari-pancake

Achaars are a kind of nepali sidedish and a flavourful addition to every meal. This one was described as Potato-salad by my german relatives, and it kind of fits.

Ingredients

• 4-5 Potatoes, boiled and diced
• Cucumber, diced
• 3 spoons of Brown Sesame or Niger Seeds, dry roasted and ground
• Methi
• Szechuanpepper
• 1 Lemon

Instructions

Boil the Potatoes and mix them with the cucumber, add a bit of Kurkuma in one spot.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan and roast the methi until it’s black. You might be tempted to add less oil, but it needs quite a lot.

Once the methi has become black, pour it over the kurkuma with the hot oil. It should give a satisfying fzzzz. Mix in the sesame powder.

Add Salt, Szechuanpepper, Lemon. Balance the three ingredients so that each is present in the taste but does not overshadow the others.

“Bara Wo is delicious lentil pancake. We can make from any type of lentil like black lentil, green lentil or any other type. Newars from Kathmandu valley use this occasionly. Specially for some happy occasions like wedding, ceremonies, birthdays.”

This is a really easy but versatile recipe for frying (leftover) rice with veggies, meat, tofu, what have you.

Base ingredients

• 1 big onion 🧅, or several small one, finely diced
• 2-3 potatoes 🥔, cut into thin pins similar to fries

Additionally

You don’t need to add all ingredients listed here, but pick at least two, for variety’s sake. ;)

• A handful of frozen peas
• A handful of frozen green beans
• 150g of chicken slices
• 150g of tofu

Process

Heat oil in a pan and add about 10 methi seeds and the same amount of ajowan seeds.

Fry them until the methi turns black, then add the onions and 1/2 tsp of tumeric. Fry for a while, then add the potatoes and 1 tsp of salt.

Fry the potatoes until they are half-done, then add all other ingredients and keep on frying.

After a few minutes, add the rice in a rough 1:1 ratio to everything else.

Once the rice is fried in a few places, you’re done!