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10 Foods to Eat in Dar Khane Din During Teej Festival

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well if one has not dined well.”
― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

This is especially if the day is Dar khane din – a day before Teej. But have you ever wondered what are the commonly consumed foods in Dar khane din? Well since the name of the day has the word “Khane” which literally means “to eat” in Nepali, surely there are some foods related to this day of eating right?

Yes, yes there are! In fact, you can commonly find some simple but really good foods in Dar khane din all over Nepal. These foods are easy to make and delicious to eat – plus they are served by the males of the society. Why do you ask? For this, we will have to know what a Dar khane din actually is.

What is a Dar khane din?

10 Commonly But Brilliant Foods in Dar khane din!

In simple terms, Dar khane din is a festival celebrated one day before Hartalika Teej by the women of the Hindu Community. This festival normally lies in the month of Bhadra which is around August or September as per the English calendar.

On this day, women enjoy good food and gather in one palace to enjoy. Obviously, there will be music and dancings as well, They sing devotional songs and dance and feast. As per the culture, the men have to organize the feast and the party. So yes Dar khane din is meant for females and Yes, they do fast the next day – after eating all they can on this day before Teej.

Now while the specifics of the foods may vary depending on the circumstances, we do have some common foods in Dar Khane din. They are cheap and simple to make – as long as one keeps their eyes on the fire and follows the recipe. Want to know what they are?

10 Commonly Consumed Foods in Dar khane din throughout Nepal

As we mentioned, there are some foods in Dar Khane Din that are found all over Nepal. The main reason is its simplicity and price. Not everyone can make expensive or complicated foods but because these foods are so simple, they are rather common. Along with this, there is also a little fact that around 84% of Nepali are Hindus, which is a factor in these foods being common.

So what are they?

1. Kheer

This is one of the simplest foods in Dar khane din. While you can make a fancy version of the Kheer with a Kaju, raisins, and all, the base kheer is nothing but rice pudding prepared in milk via slow cooking.

2. Sewai/Sevai

While this dish is said to be originated in India, it is still one of the simplest and common foods in Dar Khane Din. This dish is just a rice paste deep-fried into thin stripes. You can make a fancier version of this by soaking them in milk and adding almonds to it for consumption. But that being said, the best combination for this dish is Kheer.

3. Alu ko Achar

Nothing says Nepali more than Alu ko Achar. This is a simple dish that is not specific to any festival but is commonly eaten throughout the year. All you need to do to make this dish is boil some potatoes, remove the skin and mix them well with the spices. Additionally, you can add some lime and cucumber to turn this dish into sour and savory snacks to go well with the alcohol as well.

4. Vegetable Pulao

After talking about the snacks, let’s talk about some dinner for Dar khane din. Vegetable Pulao is one of the most common foods in Dar khane din found throughout Nepal. It’s a rather simple dish as well for all you need to do is cook the rice along with some sauteed vegetables. Yes, this dish is as simple as it sounds.

5. Puri

If you are thinking that the previous foods in Dar khane din are a bit hard to make, then it cannot get any simpler than a Puri. This is just a fried Bread. All you have to do is knead the dough, heat up some oils, roll the dough into thin circles and fry it.

6. Paneer

So, this is not a simple dish or rather paneer is not a dish yet. Paneer is a curdled Milk Cheese that can be cooked in a number of ways. You can make paneer curry, deep-fried paneer masala paneer, paneer gravy, and so on. In hindsight, it is similar to tofu in many ways.

7. Mutton

Now let’s move on to the mon veg side of the foods in Dar Khane Din. Did you realize that so far all the foods that we have mentioned are vegetarian (unless you consider Paneer as a nonveg dish)?

We all know what mutton is- it’s meat from fully cooked sheep. Similar to Paneer, mutton is not a dish but a raw material for dishes. From this mutton meat, you can make any number of dishes such as mutton curry, mutton gravy, deep roasted mutton, smoked Mutton, and so on. Normally on Dar khane din, the common recipe of Mutton is Mutton Gravy and Mutton Curry.

8. Chicken

If we are going to eat mutton, why leave chicken? Chicken is one of the most common meats for Dar khane din. Similar to mutton, you can cook this meat in any number of ways but the most popular form of chicken meant seems to be deep-fried legs and wings, chicken curry, and chicken gravy.

9. Sel Roti

Going away from Meat now, let’s talk about Sel Roti. We consume this dish even when it is not Dar. So why should we not eat this food in Dar khane din? This dish is made by deep-frying well-ground rice batter after turning them into rings. We all know what this dish is and this may even be some of your favorite.

10. Pakoda

Who doesn’t love this deep-fried delicacy? You can make a Pakoda out of virtually anything. All you have to do is chop the ingredients into fine pieces, coat them in batter, and deep fry them. It is really easy to make this dish and you can easily guess why this has become one of the commonly consumed foods in Dar khane din.

In the end

With Pakoda, we have come to the end of this list of delicious delicacies consumed during Dar khane din – the day has the term “to eat” in it. These commonly consumed foods in Dar khane din are simple, cheap, and easy to make. While the price of foods has risen over the past couple of years, there is a saying in Nepali that goes “Khaane mukh lai junga le chekdaina (खाने मुख लाई जुँगा ले छेक्दैन)” which literally means “no mustache can stop a hungry mouth”. So why not eat what we can?

Hope you found this helpful and entertaining. If you have any suggestions for us, do let us know then down in the comments below. And as always, thank you for reading till the end.

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