Mountain Dal

In Nepal, even more than in South India, rice and lentils rule. Dal bhat (lentils and rice) is eaten every day, several times a day, over and over again. It commonly comes served with a vegetable dish (known as takari or sabzi), but it’s the rice and lentils that are essential. The rice is generally good, and there are hundreds of different versions of dal. Most, like the recipe here, are relatively simple and not overly spiced.

Most foreigners first encounter <