Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Aloo Tama Bodi (Potato, Bamboo Shoot and Black-Eyed Bean Curry)
A tangy Newari one-pot curry of potatoes, fermented bamboo shoots, and black-eyed beans, soured by the tama and tempered in mustard oil.
Nepali (Newari) · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 45 min
~328 cal · 11g protein · 48g carbs · 11g fat · 9g fiber · 4g sugars · 1g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Aloo tama bodi is a Newari curry from the Kathmandu Valley, named for its three components: aloo (potato), tama ( bamboo shoots), and bodi (black-eyed beans). In the Newari language it is known as chhon kwa, literally a bamboo-shoot soup (chhon, bamboo shoot; kwa, soup or stew), and it is eaten across the year as a side to beaten rice (chiura), plain rice, or samay baji.
The dish gets its character from the tama, bamboo shoots until sour, which lend a tang similar to sauerkraut and form the flavour backbone. Fresh or plain canned bamboo does not carry the same sourness, so cooks seek out jarred tama at Nepali grocers. Mustard oil is heated until its raw bite lifts, then , dried chilli, and the Himalayan herb jimbu are tempered in it before the onion and spices go in.
The finished curry is loose and slightly soupy, closer to a stew than a dry tarkari, and it is finished with a crush of timur, the citrusy Nepali Sichuan pepper. It is home cooking that appears equally at everyday meals and at wedding feasts.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
3/4 cup dried black-eyed beans (bodi), soaked overnight, then drained
1.5 cups bamboo shoots (tama), drained and chopped
Hard to find? canned bamboo shoots with a splash of lemon juice and a spoon of sauerkraut brine - you get some of the tang but not the deep fermented funk; unfermented bamboo alone makes it a different, milder dish
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 tbsp mustard oil
1/4 tsp (methi) seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp jimbu (Himalayan herb), if available
1 dried red chilli, broken
1 large onion, finely sliced
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp timur (Nepali Sichuan pepper), crushed
to taste salt
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
Instructions
1
Simmer the soaked black-eyed beans in fresh salted water for 25 to 30 minutes until just tender but still holding their shape, then drain, reserving the cooking liquid.
✎ Chef’s note
The beans should keep their shape here, they finish cooking in the curry, so stop while they still have a little bite.
2
Boil the cubed potatoes in salted water for 10 to 12 minutes until a knife slides in with slight resistance, then drain.
3
Heat the mustard oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat until it just begins to smoke and the raw bitterness lifts, then lower the heat.
✎ Chef’s note
Bringing mustard oil to the smoke point once, then lowering the heat, mellows its sharp raw taste.
4
Temper the fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, jimbu, and dried chilli for 20 to 30 seconds, until fragrant and a shade darker.
5
Add the sliced onion and cook for 6 to 8 minutes until deep golden, then stir in the ginger-garlic paste for a minute.
6
Add the tomato, turmeric, coriander, and ground cumin and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, mashing the tomato, until the oil separates at the edges.
7
Tip in the fermented bamboo shoots and stir for 2 to 3 minutes to bloom their sour aroma into the base.
8
Add the potatoes, beans, salt, and the reserved bean liquid topped up with warm water to about 4 cups, then simmer partially covered for 20 to 25 minutes until loose and slightly soupy.
9
Stir in the crushed timur, rest off the heat for a few minutes, then garnish with cilantro and serve with rice or chiura.
Newari home cooking of the Kathmandu Valley.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Kathmandu Valley. Bhaktapur makes juju dhau, king curd, by boiling buffalo milk with a little sugar and setting it in unglazed clay pots that pull moisture out as it thickens. Winter brings yomari, a pointed steamed dumpling of rice flour filled with molasses, eaten at the full moon that closes the rice harvest.
🗺️
Nepal. 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.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Nepal
Yomari (Newari Sweet Rice Dumpling)Fig-shaped steamed rice-flour dumpling filled with chaku (jaggery molasses), toasted sesame, and coconut, made for Yomari Punhi.
Dal Bhat TarkariThe Himalayan daily plate: tempered black lentils, rice, and a turmeric-spiced vegetable curry.
Sel RotiA ring-shaped, lightly sweet fermented rice bread, crisp outside and soft within.
Browse all Nepal recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Nepal meal
TongbaDrink
Juju DhauDessert
MomoLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Aloo Tama Bodi (Potato, Bamboo Shoot and Black-Eyed Bean Curry)?
A tangy Newari one-pot curry of potatoes, fermented bamboo shoots, and black-eyed beans, soured by the tama and tempered in mustard oil.
Where does Aloo Tama Bodi (Potato, Bamboo Shoot and Black-Eyed Bean Curry) come from?
Aloo Tama Bodi (Potato, Bamboo Shoot and Black-Eyed Bean Curry) is a Nepali (Newari) dish from Kathmandu Valley, Nepal.
Can Aloo Tama Bodi (Potato, Bamboo Shoot and Black-Eyed Bean Curry) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Aloo Tama Bodi (Potato, Bamboo Shoot and Black-Eyed Bean Curry) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Aloo Tama Bodi (Potato, Bamboo Shoot and Black-Eyed Bean Curry) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Aloo Tama Bodi (Potato, Bamboo Shoot and Black-Eyed Bean Curry) take to make?
About 65 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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