Nepal has a rich cultural diversity and a unique food tradition. Although modern Nepali cuisine has largely been influenced by the outside world, the traditional food of Nepal has a distinct identity of its own. Among the food cultures of many communities of Nepal, the indigenous Newari food has its own uniqueness.
The Newari community is said to be the ancient inhabitants of the Kathmandu valley. Many Newari traditional dishes are made of locally available ingredients which provide foundational support for a healthy life. Hence, eaters of traditional Nepali dishes are healthful and are free from non-communicable diseases.
Generally, traditional recipes of indigenous Nepalese have been passed down to the generations through practical teaching. The recipes of various traditional dishes of Nepal were not to be easily found prior to the advent of social media. The guarded recipes of many exotic foods of various indigenous communities living in Nepal have been passed down from mother to daughter, grandmothers, and aunts to granddaughters and nieces.
Some families have their individual way of preparing a particular dish that is different from others. While some recipes had been evolving through the generations with the influence of the culinary traditions outside of Nepal, many traditional recipes can still be found in their original form.
Festival of harvest
Agriculture has been one of the chief livelihoods of the people of Nepal since antiquity. Once the harvest is reaped, it was customary to offer a portion of their fresh harvest to gods and goddesses. Once the harvest is collected after toiling in the tilths for months, it is also time for them to feast with their freshly obtained harvest. For this celebration, various delicacies are prepared using the fresh harvest, especially using rice and ground rice. Yomari is the most important and loved delicacy during this festival of harvest.
Yomari which is also known as Yamari is a stuffed and steamed rice confection. The filling commonly consists of chaku (jaggery) and sesame seeds or Kova (evaporated milk solids). In the Newari language, ‘Ya’ means to like and ‘Mari’ is the Newari bread. Likewise, Yomari or Yamari literally means the ‘liked bread’. There are also spicy Yomari filed with spiced meat which are made during special occasions and festivals.
Delicacy of festivities
This traditional food of the indigenous Newari community of Nepal is specially prepared during the harvest festival known as Yomari Punha (full moon of Yomari). This festival is celebrated in the form of thanksgiving to the goddess of Annapurna, the ‘goddess of grains’. Yomari are prepared on the first day of the festival and the first prepared confections are offered to the goddess Annapurna (goddess Luxmi). During Yomari Punha, other gods and goddesses of Nepal are also offered Yomari. Newari Buddhists offer Yomari to the Buddha during this festival which is observed from the full moon Poya (Purnima) day of December to January.
Yomari are moulded into different shapes of animals and gods too. Fish-shaped Yomari are common across Nepal. It is a tradition that children go to their neighbours beginning for Yomari during the festival while singing songs about Yomari. If Yomari, is not available in a particular house, or are there no sufficient steamed rice bread, the child is never sent home empty-handed. The households fill the child’s hands with grains and other sweets at home.
Folksongs that children sing when they go to neighbouring houses are interesting to listen to. The songs often consist of the meaning like this,
‘Yomari has a pointed tip
It is dark inside
Your Yomari would become more delicious if you give me
If you don’t give, your Yomari would become insipid
A young beautiful girl is the one who gives Yomari
The one who doesn’t give Yomari is the old stingy woman’
Apart from Yomari Punha festival, Yomari is prepared during other special occasions of Newari people.
It is a custom of the Newari community to feed their daughter with Yomari prior to delivering a child. For the people of Nepal, the even-numbered birthdays of a child such as second, fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth birthdays are believed as significant.
Yomari is prepared during the even-numbered birthday celebrations. Some put a garland of Yomari on the child on their birthday.
Since Yomari is regarded as an auspicious food, it is prepared during most ceremonies and festivals. Some records state that the tradition of eating Yomari existed during 578 AD (Pradhan 1998: 152).
How to make Yomari
- Ingredients required
- Ground rice 2 cups
- Jaggery 1 cup
- Shredded coconut 1 tablespoon
- Sesame seeds 2 tablespoons
- Ghee 2 teaspoons
Method
Boil some water and add a tablespoon of ghee in it. Take a large bowl and add ground rice. Add one cup of boiling water (or less water than that). When the water becomes cool enough, knead until you get a smooth dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and keep it aside for 15-20 minutes.
Prepare the filling. Heat a skillet over medium heat and roast sesame seeds until they emanate a fine aroma. Remove from heat and let them cool. Heat a pan and add jaggery, shredded coconut, one teaspoon of ghee and roasted sesame seeds with ¾ th cup of water. Let the mixture thickens for about 5 minutes while stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let it cool.
Now, take the dough which has been resting for a while and leave it on a flat surface and knead for another 2- 3 minutes. Grease the hands with little ghee and divide the dough into equal sized balls. Shape the dough into a cone (or a carrot) with a tip at the bottom. Using the index finger make a deep hole in the top part of the shaped dough. Twirl the finger inside the pocket slowly and expand the opening of the cone-shaped dough. Using the index finger and thumb flatten the top part of the dough.
Place two teaspoons of filling inside the pocket. Slowly seal the opening while rotating the dough between the index finger and thumb. This part should look like a neck of a bottle. Then flatten the top part of the dough using fingers into the shape of a fish tail.
Steam Yomari for 10 minutes. You can use a rice cooker for this purpose. Make sure to grease the steamer with oil.
Yomari is the lookalike of the Sri Lankan delicacy known as Imbul Kiribath. However, the way of preparing and ingredients used for both delicacies differ largely.