Tharu Food: What to Eat in the Lowland Villages

Visitors to Chitwan and Bardia come for the wildlife and often leave talking about a meal. The Tharu people of the southern plains have a cuisine quite unlike that of the hills, built on what the rivers, ponds, forests and rice fields of the lowlands provide. Much of it is steamed, grilled or smoked instead of fried, and several dishes will be new to almost any traveller.

The foundations

Rice in many forms. The Terai is Nepal's rice bowl. Beyond ordinary boiled rice, Tharu cooks use a prized glutinous variety that becomes sticky when steamed, as well as rice flour for dumplings and breads, and flattened and puffed rice for snacks.

Fish and other water creatures. Rivers, irrigation channels and village ponds supply small fish, crabs, prawns and snails, caught with basket traps and hand nets.

Foraged and garden vegetables. Fiddlehead ferns, taro leaves and stems, wild greens, bamboo shoots, gourds and mushrooms in season.

Mustard, linseed and chilli. Mustard oil is the main cooking fat, and ground linseed gives a nutty depth to several dishes.

Dishes to look for

Ghonghi. Freshwater snails are the most celebrated Tharu speciality. The snails are cleaned, the tip of each shell is snipped off, and they are boiled and then simmered in a thin, spicy gravy flavoured with ground linseed, garlic and herbs. You pick up a shell and suck the meat out through the opening, an art that takes a few attempts. They are eaten with rice. The taste is earthy and mild, somewhere near mussels.

Dhikri. Rice flour is kneaded with hot water into a dough, shaped by hand into long, plain cylinders and steamed. They are white, soft and slightly chewy, with little flavour of their own, and are eaten dipped in a spicy tomato or chilli chutney or alongside curry. Dhikri is closely associated with the Maghi new year festival in January.

Bagiya. A cousin of dhikri: flattened rice-dough parcels, often with pointed ends, stuffed with a filling of spiced lentils or sometimes sweetened ingredients, then steamed.

Sticky rice. The glutinous rice variety is steamed, sometimes inside a leaf or a section of bamboo, and eaten with fish or meat.

Fish, grilled or dried. Small river fish are grilled over an open fire on bamboo skewers or wrapped in leaves. A particular preparation called sidhara combines dried fish with taro stem and spices, formed into cakes and sun-dried for storage, later cooked into a strong-tasting curry.

Crab curry. Small freshwater crabs cooked in a thin, hot gravy, eaten shell and all or cracked open by hand.

Pork and duck. Roasted or curried, especially at festivals. Duck is a favourite.

Pakuwa. Meat, commonly pork, marinated and grilled over fire.

Taro leaf rolls. Leaves layered with spiced gram-flour paste, rolled, steamed, sliced and fried.

Chutneys. Ground linseed with chilli and lime; roasted tomato with garlic; pounded dried fish.

Where to try it

• Community homestays near the national parks are the best setting. Meals are cooked by the host family, often with produce and fish from the village, and they are happy to explain each dish.

• Tharu restaurants in the tourist towns near the parks serve set plates of local specialities, usually with snails, dhikri and fish on the menu.

• Cultural programmes at lodges sometimes include a Tharu dinner.

• During Maghi, in mid-January, public fairs in Terai towns have rows of food stalls.

Ask for a "Tharu set" or name the dish you want. Not everything is available year-round; snails are most common from the rains through winter.

Eating etiquette

Meals are traditionally served on plates made of stitched leaves or on metal dishes, and eaten with the right hand while sitting on a mat. Visitors are given spoons and, increasingly, tables. Wash your hands before and after. Compliments to the cook are always welcome, and second helpings are pressed on guests.

For cautious eaters

Snails and crabs come from local waters, so eat them at reputable homestays and restaurants where they are thoroughly cooked, and avoid them from casual roadside stalls. Vegetarians will find steamed rice dumplings, taro dishes, lentils, greens and chutneys, though it is wise to mention your diet in advance, since fish is used widely.

Why seek it out

Tharu cooking reflects an intimate knowledge of a wetland environment that has shaped a people for centuries. It is also a reminder of how much of Nepal's culinary variety lies outside the hill-country dishes that fill most restaurant menus. A plate of snails and dhikri in a mud-walled kitchen, after a morning spent watching rhinos, completes the picture of the lowlands.