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🌍 Country of the Week · A Spin the Globe Teacher's Guide
Nepal
NepalAsia · This week's dish comes from Kathmandu Valley
About Nepal
Nepali food revolves around dal bhat, lentils and rice eaten twice daily, alongside momo dumplings and Himalayan Tibetan influences. Simple, wholesome, and mountain-shaped, it leans on lentils, pickles (achar), and fermented greens.
Dal bhat is only two thirds of its own name: dal bhat tarkari, lentils and rice and the vegetable curry, with the tarkari counting as much as the other two. It is eaten twice a day and refilled without being asked, which is why the phrase dal bhat power is a running joke on the trekking routes.
Nepal preserves greens by fermenting them. Gundruk is leaf mustard, radish or cauliflower leaves packed tight, left to sour, then dried, and it turns up as soup and as pickle through the months when nothing green is growing. Momos, by contrast, came from Tibet and are shared across the Himalaya rather than being Nepali alone.
The wider picture: From street-cart woks to slow monastery kitchens.
This week's dish: Dal Bhat Tarkari
The Himalayan daily plate: tempered black lentils, rice, and a turmeric-spiced vegetable curry.
Serves 4 · Prep 20 min · Cook 40 min · Difficulty: easy
See the full recipe: ingredients, steps and dietary swaps →
Grown-up jobs: any step that uses a hot stove, oven, boiling water, or a sharp knife is for a teacher or parent. Children can measure, mix, and assemble.
Discussion prompts
1. Find Nepal on a world map or globe. It sits in Asia. Which oceans or neighboring countries does it touch, and roughly how far is it from where you live?
2. Dal Bhat Tarkari comes from Kathmandu Valley, in Nepal. Read its ingredient list together. Which of those foods do you think are grown or raised nearby, and how might the country's climate and landscape explain that?
3. Read the short story behind Dal Bhat Tarkari. How have the people, trade routes, and history of Nepal shaped what ends up on the plate there?
4. Compare Dal Bhat Tarkari to a dish your own family cooks. What is similar, what is different, and what one question would you ask a family in Nepal about how they make and share it?
5. After you cook Dal Bhat Tarkari, add Nepal to a classroom map and give it a stamp. Write down one fact about its food or geography that you did not know this morning.
🌍 Spin the Globe · Geography through food · spintheglobeofficial.com/for-teachers