It is possible to stay in Buddhist monasteries when visiting Nepal. The Neydo Monastery is located about half an hour’s drive from Kathmandu (once you manage to leave Kathmandu – the traffic can be incredibly busy). It offers simple accommodation which is basic but clean as well as an evening meal and breakfast. If you get up early enough you are welcome to watch the monks’ daily worship as they chant from religious texts accompanied by a variety of instruments. Just enter the temple quietly and sit on one of the mats provided at the back of the room. Naturally no photos are permitted inside the monastery’s prayer hall.
Dinner – Nepal Momo
The evening meal on offer was momos, which are delightfully delicious dumplings, basically a flour and water dough filled with meat, vegetables or cheese. They are usually steamed, often over a bowl of flavourful stock, but can also be pan fried or even deep fried. They are often accompanied by a dipping sauce, something akin to a chutney.
These were vegetable momos with a mild savoury dipping sauce accompanied by a light soup.
Nepal momos are so popular that you will even see fast food dumpling outlets, especially in Kathmandu. These often offer set meals – you can order via a picture menu just as you would at a burger bar. During our trip to Nepal we had eaten plateful upon plateful of the delicious little darlings, but it was on our last day – in one of these restaurants – that we realised that we had been eating them all wrong! Maybe it’s because we’re British, we were trying politely to take a delicate bite of a momo each time we ate one. However, a friendly local, who kindly hid his appalled expression when he saw us daintily eating momos, explained that you should always eat them whole.
The reason? As the momos steam the juices from the filling create a little soup inside the dumpling shell. Bite into part of the momo and the soup drains out – lost forever. Eat the whole momo and the flavour of the broth fills your mouth with soupy deliciousness.
Just make sure the momos have cooled down a little before scoffing.
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