A Newar steamed sweet dumpling from the Kathmandu Valley. Fresh rice flour, scalded with hot water and kneaded into a soft dough, is shaped by hand into a pointed fig or fish form and filled with chaku (hardened cane-sugar molasses that melts to a syrup) and toasted sesame, or with sweet khuwa (condensed milk solids). It is steamed until the wrapper turns translucent and the filling melts — a warming centerpiece of the Newar winter season.
A heritage food of the Newar community, yomari takes its name from Nepal Bhasa — 'ya:' (to like) and 'mari' (delicacy), together 'a liked delicacy.' Its great occasion is Yomari Punhi, the full-moon day after the valley's rice harvest (around December), when households grind the first of the new rice into flour, steam the dumplings, and offer them first to Annapurna, the goddess of grain, in thanksgiving for the harvest before sharing them with family and neighbors. Also called the Harvest Full Moon.
A tender, slightly chewy rice skin gives way to a warm, oozing rush of dark sesame-jaggery sweetness. The contrast of soft wrapper and molten, nutty caramel filling is pure winter comfort.
Mixing rice flour into near-boiling water partly gelatinizes the starch, giving a stretchy dough that seals without cracking. Steaming sets the wrapper gently while the sugary filling melts into a flowing core.
Variations
Chaku-sesame yomari, khuwa-filled yomari, savoury meat or lentil yomari, coconut yomari
On the Palate
Where Yomari sits in the Nepali flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 45 min
- 15 min
Boil water with a little oil, then stir in rice flour off the heat.
Watch outStir the rice flour into water that's just off the boil so the starch swells — this is what makes the dough stretchy enough to seal without cracking.
- 28 min
Knead the warm dough until smooth, soft and pliable.
- 36 min
Melt chaku or jaggery and mix with toasted sesame and coconut.
- 44 min
Pinch off dough and shape into a thin hollow cup in your palm.
- 53 min
Spoon in the sweet filling and pinch the top into a fish-tail point.
- 64 min
Smooth and seal each yomari so no filling leaks out.
Watch outPinch every seam fully shut and check for gaps — one weak spot and the molten filling leaks out into the steamer.
- 718 min
Steam the dumplings over boiling water for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Watch outSteam just until the wrapper turns from chalky white to translucent — oversteam and the thin dough slumps and tears.
- 83 min
Rest briefly so the dough sets, then serve warm.
