I just ate a very filling dish of dal baht for dinner, which came to roughly $2. It is definitely one if the cheapest meals you can eat in Nepal.
Dal Baht is a national trekking dish here in Nepal, Dal meaning lentil soup, and Baht meaning rice. It usually also comes with a veg and potato mix and spices, and sometimes meat, all in separate, neat little piles on a tin plate. While we tourists sampled an entire menu of international eats during our trek across the Annapurna Circuit, our guides and GITs would eat Dal Baht at least twice a day, every day, and they loved it. But we noticed that they would not eat with us, because, we found out by asking our guide Kale, they thought we would think them uncivilized for eating Dal Baht the traditional way, with your hands. So, to prove them wrong, on day 2 of the trek we invited them to eat with us, we all ordered Dal Baht and ate it in the traditional way, with our hands. It took some practice to get it right, but here is how it's done...
Dal Baht is a national trekking dish here in Nepal, Dal meaning lentil soup, and Baht meaning rice. It usually also comes with a veg and potato mix and spices, and sometimes meat, all in separate, neat little piles on a tin plate. While we tourists sampled an entire menu of international eats during our trek across the Annapurna Circuit, our guides and GITs would eat Dal Baht at least twice a day, every day, and they loved it. But we noticed that they would not eat with us, because, we found out by asking our guide Kale, they thought we would think them uncivilized for eating Dal Baht the traditional way, with your hands. So, to prove them wrong, on day 2 of the trek we invited them to eat with us, we all ordered Dal Baht and ate it in the traditional way, with our hands. It took some practice to get it right, but here is how it's done...
1- It's important that you only use your right hand to touch your food as the left hand is seen as unclean.
2- make a whole in the middle of your rice pile and pour in the Dal (soup), just like you would pour gravy onto your mash potatoes at Thanksgiving dinner.
3- next take bits of veg, potato, meat or other spices and add them to the mix.
4- scoop up the rice with your fingers. Your hand should look like a sock puppet flipped upside down with the food on the tips of your fingers. This is important because you then use your thumb, placed behind the food to push it into your mouth. Trust me, this is the best way to do it without making a mess. Before learning this technique I was told I was bad Dal Baht eater :)
5- If you want more dal or more baht or more veg - just ask! This is the only dish where they will readily give you seconds or thirds.
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