One of the great experiences I had in Nepal was taking the cooking class at Nepal Cooking School. I was already excited after going around Durbar Square but when I met Sunaina and Sunita at the cooking school I got even more enthusiastic to know their dishes. These two are the warmest people you’ll get to meet in Kathmandu!
I learned from Sunaina that our guide, Shree, is the President of Journey Nepal. Journey Nepal is a social organisation in Kathmandu working in partnership with the women and children of Nepal to empower them. The organization provides opportunities for education employment and skills training. In January 2016 the Nepal Cooking School was established to provide Nepali cooking classes to tourists, of which 100% of the profit goes to funding Journey Nepal projects.
Here’s more about Journey Nepal and its projects and beneficiaries:
I did say in the video I was going to show the rickshaw. Here’s the rickshaw with the shy rickshaw driver:
My family went to Nepal in August and it was still monsoon season. We had rain showers every now and then, otherwise it was a good walking exercise to walk to the market and back to the school.
What did I choose to cook?
There were menus to choose from and if you are with a group, everyone needs to agree on one set of menu. It will be hard for the teacher to cater to different choices in one session. I was alone in my chosen schedule so I had the liberty to choose. I mixed the dishes from Menu 1 and Menu 2. Sunita showed me how to prepare and cook these:
- egg rolls
- dal (yellow lentil soup)
- Nepali aachar
- chicken curry
- stir fried greens
- choco momo
While we were preparing the ingredients, Chef Sunita showed me how to prepare the Nepali Masala Chiya (Spiced Tea). It is a combination of water and milk with tea, sugar, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon stick.
We started with the egg rolls and they were soooo yummy! I brought half of the egg roll to my husband:
I had to eat what I cooked but I did bring some to my husband and my boys. 1) I wanted them to taste what I cooked (shhh… mostly done by Sunita, lol); 2) I can’t finish all the dishes, too filling for me.
I really liked the chicken curry. It’s totally different from the commercial curries I tasted. But my favorite is the traditional aachar. You can use this as a sauce for just about anything. I didn’t put too much spice, though:
Instead of Yamari (Rice Dumplings with Sesame Seeds and Coconut) we made choco momo, instead! My boys loved it when I brought it back to the hotel.
I totally recommend learning an authentic meal from the locals/countries you visit and I absolutely recommend Nepal Cooking School. I had a great time and both Sunaina and Sunita were very friendly and warm. Sunaina went the extra mile when I said I wanted to buy Himalayan Salts. She offered to buy them for me and Shree brought them to our hotel before we left. Lovely people!
Here’s Nepal Cooking School’s contact details:
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