Newar festival platter from Kathmandu Valley — beaten rice flakes (baji) ringed by grilled spiced buffalo (choila), fried black-lentil patties (wo/bara), black soybeans, fried boiled egg, marinated potato (aloo achaar), ginger, garlic, leafy greens, and pickles, washed down with homemade rice liquor (aila). Central to every festival, puja, wedding, funeral rite, and coming-of-age.
Samay means 'ceremonial time' and baji means beaten rice — together, 'food for the auspicious occasion,' the Newar people's offering plate for every important rite. The items map to the five elements (sky, earth, water, fire, air); the egg signifies new life and good fortune. Eaten with the right hand from a single plate, communally.
Pinch a bit of baji with choila and a spoon of yogurt-potato in one bite — the rice flakes are dry-toasty, the buffalo is intensely spiced and smoky from the coals, the yogurt potato cools, the lentil patty grounds. Every element is a different flavor language; together it's Newar at its full depth.
Beaten rice (chiura/baji) is parboiled-and-flattened — eats dry and absorbs flavors from surrounding components. The platter is designed for combinatorial bites: pick rice + 2-3 toppings per mouthful. Mustard oil throughout adds a sharp note distinct from Indian ghee-based cooking.
Variations
Samay Baji Naas (no meat). Samay Baji Bhutu (with meat curry). Yomari Samay Baji (with yomari dumplings). Festival samay baji (with 12+ items for Tihar).
On the Palate
Where Samay Baji sits in the Nepali flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 1 hour 10 min active + 20 min waiting
- 13 min
Beaten rice (baji): pour 2 cups beaten rice flakes onto a serving platter as the bed.
- 225 min
Choila: grill 300g buffalo or beef rump on a grill; cool, slice thin, then toss with mustard oil, ground fenugreek, ginger, garlic, turmeric, chili powder, salt.
Watch outGrill the choila meat over live heat until well charred, then cut thin against the grain — the smoky edges are half the dish, so let it take real color.
- 315 min
Wo lentil patty: soak 1 cup black lentils overnight; grind to a paste with ginger, salt. Form into thin discs and pan-fry in mustard oil 3 min per side.
Watch outPan-fry the wo discs in mustard oil until each side sets deep golden and crisp at the rim — the oil should be shimmering hot before they go in.
- 48 min
Pickled radish (chukauni): grate 1 daikon; mix with 1 cup yogurt, 1 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp chili, fenugreek tempered in oil.
- 512 min
Aalu achaar: boil 2 potatoes, cube; toss with sesame paste, lemon, chili, garlic.
- 68 min
Plate: bed of baji in the center; arrange around the rim: choila, wo discs, chukauni, aalu achaar, hard-boiled egg halves, fried fish, ginger sliver, black bean cake.
- 72 min
Serve with a small glass of aila (Newar millet liquor) on the side. Eat with right hand.
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