Orphanage in Nepal

Based on a true story...

There I was. I peered out the window of the plane and saw the great Himalayan mountains beside me as we flew past. I was in awe of how magnificent they were and the next thing I knew, my plane was landing in the mystical land of Nepal.

For those who don’t know, Nepal is an awesome and beautiful country located between China and India. There are about 28 million Nepalese people living in that country and wow do they have some delicious food!

When I stepped off the plane the airport was straight ahead. The place was made of bricks and outside awaited a taxi to take me to a nearby orphanage where I volunteered to work at.

When I arrived that night, I was greeted by the tiny Nepalese house mother who ran the orphanage and invited us in with a big smile. We arrived upstairs and were told to sit down and wait for our meal.

All of a sudden two big pots entered the room carried in by two separate nepalese women. They then scooped some delicious steamy hot white rice onto a large plate and spread it out until it almost toppled over the edges.

Then the other pot had this type of soup liquid... It smelled rich and spicy but with a sense of deep earthy and plant based flavor. They poured the contents of this pot on top of the warm soft rice. This amazingly delicious dish I learned right away was called ‘Dal’, “pronounced dul” in english.

This dish warmed my spirit on a deep level, welcoming me to a new land with a warm hug from the inside.

The white rice was steamy

The Liquid poured on top was hot

The aurora of spice filled the room with a sense of heat and grass scent

It was one of the best dishes I had ever had and now I wish to share the simple recipe I learned from the house mother from a Nepalese Orphanage!

Orphanage Dul Recipe

Prep Time 10 Minutes

Cook Time about 30-40 minutes

Serving Size… about 4-5

Step 1

First is that you want to choose your base Lentils or Beans.

In this recipe I highly suggest using Black Eyed Beans.

I was quite surprised to see these beans being used halfway across the world in Nepal, but they apparently are present there and are plenty delicious!

You want to take the beans and put them into a big pot.

Depending on how big the pot is you want there to add enough water to cover the top of the Beans, but not too much either.

Then you want to boil the water with the beans while adding the following ingredients in the pot for about 20 minutes or so.

Then let the pot simmer while all the main ingredients soak in the flavor for about another 20 minutes.

While the Beans are Boiling...

Add

1 Cup of Turmeric Powder

1 Cup of Crushed Garlic

1 Cup of Chopped Cilantro

1 Cup of Chopped Onion

1 Cup of Chopped Gringeroot

½ Cup of Oil

½ of Cup of Chilli Powder ( 1 Cup if you want it extra Spicy )

¼ cup of Hymilayian Pink Salt

¼ cup of Black Pepper

Add about 2-3 Chopped Potatoes

Stir the pot with beans while it is boiling for 20 minutes on and off then let it sit still on low still keeping all the ingredients hot and warm.

Step 2

Cook up some white rice!

The best way to do this is with a rice cooker.

Cook plenty of rice, enough to fill up the whole plate for how many people you wish to serve.

(Enough rice for 10 plates because they will want seconds) =)

Once the rice is nice and fluffy, keep it warm until the main topping is ready.

Step 3

Once you feel all the ingredients in the pot are cooked and the rice is nice and hot, add some rice to the plate then scoop up the main ingredients in the pot ( Dul ) with a scooper that doesn’t take all the liquid with it.

Add the ingredients on top of the white rice.

Then you can sprinkle some raw Cilantro on top of the Dul.

Then the meal is complete.

Enjoy!

This dish influenced my relationship with food by showing me that I can use lots of different spices and ingredients together to make a simple yet tasty dish.

It also showed me that money did not always matter when making good food. I think at most all of these ingredients were basic at best but yet the amount of flavor and how it filled me up was surprising.

The experience of this new dish impacted my daily cooking by always making me take a look at my dishes and asking myself if maybe some additional ingredients or spices such as Turmeric could be added.

I fell in love with Turmeric after trying it for the first time in Nepal and now it is in most of my daily foods that I create.

I hope by sharing this recipe that I learned can honor the Nepalese culture by encouraging others to try the food from Nepal but to also show that even at a orphanage in Nepal, you can find very delicious food and recipes

Good journey!

-Kenny