Kwati, Healthy Newari Soup

Kwati is the food of Mixed bean sprouts.It is one of the ideal food item in Nepalese culture.It is also regarded as one of the best apetizer food because of its cultural and medical importance over human body.Kwati especially was introduced among nepalese from Newari food.It also stands as one of the vital food stuff in the Newari food menu.

Preparation: Kwati is prepared by making beans sprout. Generally, there should be nine types of beans in the kwati(chana,kerau,moong,maas,razma,simi,bodi,sanu kerau,kauli chana). However, people may put four or five varieties in the kwati.Kwati is the special food which can enumerate all nine varieties of beans which should go into the ideal kwati. The beans are soaked for four to nine days; and when they redily start to germinate they are taken out and the sprouted beans are cooked to a thick soup . Kwati is generally served with boiled rice.

General use: People may eat kwati in accordance to their desires, but kwati is prescribed to be eaten at Janai purnima only, a festival in which boys wear sacred holy threads and girls tie a holy wrist band on their brother's right hand to bless them with long life.

Social and ritual significance: Kwati is prescribed to be eaten at the Janai purnima (lit., the full moon of the sacred thread), a full moon when God Siva (a hindu God) is worshipped. Kwati is said to have several effects. It “makes one strong,” and it purifies one’s stomach because the beans sprouts are hard to digest and thus cleanse the stomach. Indeed, when kwati is eaten at Janai purnima, during the monsoon season, it is believed to cure several stomach related diseases. Moreover, eating kwati is said to kill a certain kind of worms in human body.

Traditional importance: However, people consider that it is related to the mysteries of creation and growth. That there are nine kinds of beans may reflect a relation to the Naudurga culture (a group od nine hindu goddesses), the culture of the nine Durgas,though not been able to be confirmed.

Exceptions: For one year after a demise, Kwati is not eaten in households where somebody had expired. People, living in other households, only observe this interdiction for twelve days: i.e., only in case the death occurred within the twelve days that precede Janai purnima. Kwati is not accepted from the lamaju castes.
Copyright (c) 2006. Saksham Ghimire, Kathmandu Don Bosco College.

Photos by debunix

What is Alu Tama?

Alu tama is the typical newari soup prepare with black eye beans, bamboo shoots and potatoes.

Ingredients

300 gm Plack eye beans

400 gm Bamboo Shoots

4 Tablespoon vegetable oil

2 Red onion finely chopped

2 Fresh tomato finely chopped

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic paste ( fresh garlic)

1/2 Teaspoon Ingwer paste (fresh ingwer)

1/5 Turmeric

450 gm Potato, pleed and cut into cube sizes

1.5 litre soup water ( used the pork boiled water or chicken)

1 Teaspoon cucumin

1 Tablespoon chilli powder ( if you like hot & spicy)

Salt according to your taste

Prepartion

To cook the Alu Tama, I prefer to use the pressure cooker. If you donot have the pressure cooker, you can also use the normal cooking pot. Heat the oil in the pressure cooker or pot, add the potato and beans, fry it for 5 minutes and stir it occassinally. Give the soup water into the pressure cooker (pot), add salt, cucumin, turmeric and cooked it untill the pressure cooker whistle or 30 minutes in pot.

Heat the extra pan with oil. Add the chopped onion, stir it for 2-3 minutes and add the bamboo shoot with some salt. Add tomato and cooked the bamboo shoot until it is ready.

Add the cooked bamboo shoots from the pan into the soup and cooked it for 10 mintues.

The soup is ready to serve...

GUTEN APPETIT !!