Kathmandu Valley (Newar) · 2 h · Meat · Main course · For experienced cooks
Samay Baji
In German: Newari-Festtagsset mit flachgeschlagenem Reis
For 4 servings · US units
Newar festive platter from the Kathmandu Valley: chiura, choila, bara and bhatmas
Samay Baji is a festive Newar platter from the Kathmandu Valley — a plate where nothing gets stirred together: toasted beaten rice in the middle, and around it spiced buffalo meat, crisp lentil patties, roasted black soybeans, a halved egg, vegetables and a few sharp slices of ginger and chilli. Every mouthful comes out different, depending on what you pull in from the rim. It's served at room temperature or only just warm, traditionally with a glass of aila, the rice liquor.
Ingredients
- 5⅔ ozcentre of the plate, dry-toastedRaw or parboiled rice grains, beaten flat and dried, dry, lightly crisp and mildly nutty.Substitute: There is no good substitute. The rice flakes sold in health food shops are processed differently and turn mushy quickly in liquid, so they work neither for eating dry nor for frying. Puffed rice is too airy and has no bite. Without chiura, it is better to serve the dish with cooked rice and accept that the dry, crisp element is lost.Read more
- 14⅛ ozboneless, for choila; beef as substituteWater buffalo meat, known in Nepal as “buff” and used for momos, choila and dried meat: dark red, lean and full-flavoured.Substitute: Lean beef is a good substitute, though slightly fattier and milder; for minced fillings such as momos use lean ground beef, for dried meat a lean braising cut. Bison is also close to water buffalo in leanness and flavour.Read more
- 2 tbspfor the choila and vegetablesCaution: Because of its erucic acid content, some mustard oil is labelled for external use only, so for cooking use only oil that is explicitly sold as edible.Cold-pressed oil from brown or yellow mustard seeds, golden to amber, with a sharp, pungent smell.Substitute: Rapeseed or canola oil comes from the same plant family and works as a base; a little mustard powder or freshly ground brown mustard seed brings back some of the heat. The characteristic pungent bite and full aroma, especially in pickles, cannot be matched this way.Read more
- 3 clovesGarlicfinely grated or as paste
- ⅔ ozGingeras paste for the meat, rest sliced for serving
- 1 tspChili powderfor choila and soybeans
- 1 tspTurmericfor the meat and the potato dish (optional)
- 1 tspcrushed, defining note of the choila (optional)Dried husks of a citrus-family shrub, not a true pepper. Lemony and floral, with a tingling, numbing effect on the tongue.Substitute: Timur and Sichuan pepper stand in for each other well. Black pepper with a little grated lemon zest roughly matches the aroma, but the tingling and numbing are lost entirely.Read more
- 2 tbspSpring oniongreen parts, chopped, into the meat
- 2 tbspCorianderchopped (optional)
- 1 tspfenugreek seedsroasted dark, poured hot over the meat (optional)
- 7 ozblack gram (urad dal)soaked overnight, for the bara patties
- 1 pinchasafoetidainto the lentil batter (optional)
- 1Green chilieschopped into the batter, sliced for serving (optional)
- 2¾ ozBlack soybeans (bhatt)roasted or fried until crunchy
- 4Egghard-boiled and halved, one per plate
- 2Potatoesfor potato achar or the bamboo-shoot dish
- 2¾ ozfermented bamboo shoots (tama)simmered with the potatoes (optional)
- 1Tomatochopped, for the potato dish (optional)
- 1 tspCumincrackled in oil (optional)
- 2¾ ozMustard greens or spinachsautéed fresh or as fermented dried greens
- 1Radishjulienned, briefly soaked in cold water (optional)
- 1Lemonin wedges or for the potato achar
- 3½ ozcooked separately until tender (optional)Small green pulses, sold whole or hulled and split as yellow mung dal; mild, slightly sweet and quick to cook.Substitute: Yellow mung dal can be replaced with red lentils, which break down just as quickly but taste a little earthier. For whole mung beans, green or brown lentils come closest, though they have a stronger flavour and need a different cooking time.Read more
- ¼ cupOilfor frying the bara and sautéing
- Saltfor all components
- served alongside (optional)A clear, traditionally home-distilled spirit from fermented grain, usually rice, made in Nepal, Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan; mildly sweet and grainy.Substitute: Rice shochu from Japan comes closest, being similarly mild and grainy; soju also works but is weaker and slightly sweeter. Vodka matches the clarity and alcohol but not the sweetish rice note. Chinese baijiu is usually too pungent and would dominate the dish.Read more
Method
- Soak the black gram overnight, drain it and grind it smooth with a little water. Beat the batter hard with salt, asafoetida, ginger paste and chopped green chilli until it is light and airy, then let it rest briefly.
- Either simmer the buffalo meat until tender or sear it all over on high heat, then cut it into small cubes.
- Heat the mustard oil, fry the garlic and ginger in it, stir in the turmeric and chilli powder and toss the meat through. Roast the fenugreek seeds dark in hot oil and pour them over the meat, then mix in the timur, spring onion greens and coriander and leave the choila to sit for at least 20 minutes.
- For the vegetables, crackle the cumin seeds in mustard oil, cook the chopped tomato down until soft, add the diced potatoes and the fermented bamboo shoots, pour in water, salt and simmer until tender.
- Heat oil or ghee in a pan, drop in the lentil batter by the spoonful, press it into flat discs and fry the bara on both sides until golden and crisp.
- Dry-roast or shallow-fry the black soybeans until crunchy and season them with salt and chilli powder. Sauté the mustard greens, or the soaked gundruk, in a little oil.
- Hard-boil the eggs and halve them. Cut the radish into fine julienne and soak it briefly in cold water, slice the ginger and green chilli, and cut the lemon into wedges.
- Dry-toast the beaten rice over mild heat for 2–3 minutes without letting it colour.
- Pile the beaten rice in the centre of the plate and arrange all the other components separately around it, keeping everything apart. Top with the ginger and chilli slices and serve at room temperature.
Tips and variations
With the meat you have a choice: charred over an open flame and then chopped it tastes smokier, pre-cooked and tossed in spiced oil it stays milder. Instead of the braised potato and bamboo shoot dish you can serve a quick potato achar with mustard oil, sesame and lemon. The soybeans can be cooked and roasted yourself from soaked black beans or bought ready-roasted; beaten rice comes reddish and unhusked (rato chiura) or soft and white (seto chiura). If you like, swap the beaten rice for cooked rice with mung beans and black gram and set vegetables, fresh fruit and dried fruit around the rim of the plate. Gundruk or sautéed mustard greens bring in the fermented note — and a glass of aila belongs to the celebration.
Allergens
Contains: Eggs, Mustard, Soybeans
Not every ingredient in this recipe has been checked, so nothing is promised as free from.
These notes follow from this recipe's ingredient list. Ready-made products and brands may contain further allergens — please check the packaging yourself.
Something not right?
This recipe was put together from independent sources and checked before publishing. Even so, a mistake can slip through — an amount that does not add up, a step that does not work as written. If you spot something, write to us: we will look into it and put it right.
