Newar grilled-then-tossed buffalo (or chicken) — cooked over open flame to a smoky char, then sliced thin and tossed with mustard oil, fenugreek, ginger, garlic, chilies. The smoky-spicy small plate that anchors samay baji platters.
Choila comes from the Kathmandu Valley Newar tradition of festival small-plates. The grilling-first-then-dressing technique distinguishes it from boiled or stewed meat dishes; the smokiness is essential to the dish's identity.
Pick up a slice of choila — the meat has a smoky char on the edges, the interior is tender and just-pink. The mustard-oil dressing is sharp and herbal; fenugreek and timur tingle the tongue. Eaten with beaten rice to soak up the oil.
Grilling rare-to-medium then slicing thin lets the meat absorb the oil-spice dressing in every cell. The mustard oil must be heated until smoking (to mellow its raw sharpness) before being poured over the meat — this is the key technique.
Variations
Mokhochoila (with smoked-roasted meat). Sukula Choila (with dried buffalo meat). Kachhila (with raw minced meat — Newar tartare).
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · Show ↓35 min active · 10 min waiting
How it's made
7 steps · Show ↓- 13 min
Take 500g buffalo rump (or beef sirloin / chicken thigh). Rub with 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp salt.
- 213 min
Grill over charcoal (or under broiler) until well-charred on outside but rare-to-medium inside, 8-10 min total. Rest 5 min.
- 34 min
Slice meat very thin against the grain.
- 41 min
Tempering: heat 3 tbsp mustard oil in a small pan; add 1 tsp fenugreek seeds, 4 dried red chilies, 1 tsp Sichuan-like Nepali timur. Toast 30 sec.
- 53 min
Pour hot oil-and-spice over sliced meat. Add 2 inches grated ginger, 4 minced garlic, 1 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp paprika, 1 chopped green chili, juice of 1 lime, 1 tbsp chopped cilantro.
- 610 min
Toss thoroughly; let rest 10 min for flavors to penetrate.
- 71 min
Serve at room temperature on a small plate, alongside baji rice and aila (Newar liquor).
