In Nepali cuisine, soups are often made with locally grown vegetables, legumes, and meat, all simmered together to create a wholesome and nutritious dish. These soup recipes are designed to keep the body warm, providing both energy and nutrients.
The chill in the air during these winter months calls for hearty meals that warm the body and soul. Each spoonful of these soups carries with it the rich flavours of Nepali cuisine, making winter in the country a season of both physical and spiritual nourishment.
Rildok
Rildok is a flavourful Nepali soup often enjoyed as a part of traditional meals. Its rich taste comes from ingredients like mashed potato balls, turmeric, ginger, garlic, and fenugreek seeds, creating earthy notes. The texture is smooth and slightly thick, with a savoury aroma. It is commonly used as a base for cooking other dishes, providing depth and enhancing the flavour.
Thukpa
This hearty soup combines noodles with flavourful broths, typically made from chicken, red meat, or vegetables. The dish is seasoned with spices like ginger, garlic, turmeric, and soy sauce, creating a rich, savoury flavour. Thukpa's texture is a perfect balance of soft noodles and tender meat or vegetables, offering a satisfying bite. Although it's widely enjoyed as a meal, thukpa also plays a significant role in Nepali cooking as a base for stews and other soups, adding depth and warmth to various dishes.
Kwati
Kwati is a traditional Nepali soup made primarily from a mix of nine varieties of sprouted beans. It combines legumes black gram, green gram, chickpea, field bean, soybean, field pea, garden pea, cowpea and rice bean, offering a rich blend of flavours and textures. The beans are simmered in a spiced broth with ingredients like ginger, garlic, cumin, and turmeric, creating a savoury, slightly earthy taste. Kwati’s thick, stew-like consistency makes it perfect for cold weather. While it’s a nourishing dish often enjoyed during festivals like Janai Purnima, some use it as a base for stews or sauces, adding flavour without necessarily consuming the soup itself.
Thenthuk
Thenthuk is a comforting Nepali soup dish that blends hearty vegetables, tender meat often mutton or yak, and hand-pulled noodles. The soup features a rich broth, flavoured with garlic, ginger, and traditional spices like cumin and coriander. Its taste is savoury with a hint of warmth from the spices, making it perfect for cold weather.
Gundruk Soup
Gundruk soup is a traditional Nepali dish known for its distinct fermented flavour. Featuring fermented mustard greens that offer a tangy and sour taste that balances the dish's earthy undertones. The soup has a thin, brothy texture and is often seasoned with garlic, ginger, and spices like turmeric and cumin. While gundruk soup is a flavourful base in many Nepali meals, it is not usually consumed as is. Instead, it’s commonly used as a side dish or poured over rice to complement other main courses.
Nepali Jwano Ko Jhol
Nepali jwano ko jhol or the Nepali carom seed soup has the main ingredient jwano or carom seeds, which imparts a strong, slightly bitter taste. This soup is typically made by simmering carom seeds with ginger, garlic, turmeric, and a mix of spices like cumin and coriander and rice flour to thicken. While it's not commonly eaten on its own, jwano ko jhol plays an important role in Nepali cooking as a remedy for indigestion or as a flavourful addition to meat dishes.