Sunday, 15 October 2017

Koda Ko Rotee-Dhirho Made At Dhakalthok Home

Dhakalthok home has lots of resources has food including kodo.One of the major sources of carbohydrate among the people in the hilly region of Nepal, millet, locally known as kodo, serves two purposes. The first one is that the land itself is unfavorable for rice but good for millet cultivation, making it one of the primary cash crops in the region and another, millet is a heat producing agent and suits very well in the climate.

First of all, mix water with the flour to make a pancake batter. Now, heat a non-stick pan on medium heat and make sure it is heated thoroughly to avoid the pancake from sticking to the pan as no grease shall be used. Then, slowly pour a cup full of batter into the pan and tilt the pan around so the batter is distributed around forming a round shape. Wait until the bubbles appear within the pancake and with the help of another spatula, check around the edges to see if the pancakes could be separated from the pan. If it does, then flip the pancake and let it cook for few more minutes. Your pancake is ready to serve.

It can be served with radish pickle or any other pickle if you want to follow the traditions, however, you could also serve it with jam. Moreover, you can also eat it alone without anything else. Also, you can add sugar or salt, depending upon your taste, while you make the batter ready.

Dhido is a traditional food. It is not exactly but a type halva, made by boiling hot water and continuously mixing and stirring flours of maize and other grains like buckwheat. It is still eaten as main meal in various part of Nepal. Dhindo or Dhido (pronounced dhee-dough) sounds like some exotic dish from Nepal, but it is simply a thick porridge or mush, made by cooking stone-ground cornmeal (ghatta maa pidheko makai ko pitho), millet flour (kodo ko pitho) or buckwheat flour (phaapar ko pitho) with salt and water.
Dhindo has been a staple food of most rural and middle mountain-area people of Nepal, especially in dry areas where rice or wheat corps are difficult to grow. This hearty and filling dish is a nutrient powerhouse and is often eaten with a dab of homemade butter or clarified butter (nauni, gheu), curried vegetables (jhol tarkaari), or with various pickles, buttermilk or yogurt. Gundruk-Dhindo is the most common combination served in farming communities. 
Gundruk is a fermented and preserved leafy vegetable that is used to prepare a soup like dish that is known as gundruk ko jhol. Traditional dhindo meals are served on typical Nepali round plates called thaal made of stainless steel or brass with small bowls. Nepalese people who do hard physical labor consume enormous amounts of this nutritious meal. It is very common to see a large mounds of Dindo served in the middle of thaal accompanied by side dishes in small portions. It is eaten with the right hand by first scooping up or tearing small bite-size pieces of dhindo with your fingers, then dipping or rolling into the sauce before you put in your mouth. It is a Nepali tradition to always wash hands prior to eating and after the meal. Dhindo should be eaten steaming hot, right after cooking since it hardens once it cools. 
 
Traditionally dhindo is cooked in a Nepali iron pan with long handle and rounded bottom, called a taapke, which has an excellent heat distribution qualities. It is typically stirred with a large iron spoon with a long handle (panyu).  
As a humble origin, Dhindo meal were rarely found in fancy Nepali restaurants of Kathmandu, but these days, in many modest neighborhood restaurants, dhido is being introduced as most authentic and traditional Nepali meal.

I love kodo ko roto with the chutney using pudina and dhaniya during daytime.The taste of tangy pickle makes this snack more yummy. My granny sometimes prepares some jhol for snacks of Kodo and it is digestive for her in comparision to other food items at home.



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