All dishes

Aila is the clear distilled spirit at the heart of Newar life in the Kathmandu Valley, made by fermenting rice or millet with murcha starter and distilling it in a stacked clay-and-copper still over a wood fire. Far from casual drinking alone, it is ritually essential: aila is offered to deities before humans touch it, forms part of the Sagoon blessing ceremony, and is central to Indra Jatra and Yomari Punhi. It is traditionally served in a shallow clay cup called a salincha, sometimes poured in a long theatrical arc from a jug. Described here as a cultural and educational entry — distilling spirits at home is illegal in most countries.

Chiya is the drink that punctuates every Nepali day: strong black tea boiled hard with milk, sugar and a handful of crushed spices until it is sweet, tannic and thoroughly perfumed. The masala version leans on ginger, cardamom, clove and Nepali bay leaf (tejpat), which lends a floral note you rarely find in chai elsewhere. It is poured into small glasses at tea stalls, offered to every visitor within minutes of arrival, and drunk at all hours.

Nepali lassi is thick, cold and unfussy: whipped dahi loosened with chilled water, sweetened, and scented with cardamom. Buffalo-milk yoghurt gives it a density and faint tang you do not get elsewhere, and shops in the Terai and the old bazaars of Kathmandu serve it in tall steel tumblers with a spoon standing in it. It is the standard antidote to a hot afternoon or an over-spiced plate of momo.

Suja — known as po cha across the Tibetan plateau — is savoury rather than sweet: strong dark tea churned with butter and salt into a warm, soupy, faintly cheesy brew. In the high valleys of Mustang, Dolpo, Solukhumbu and Manang it is a practical food as much as a drink, supplying fat and salt at altitude and chapping-proof warmth in the cold. Guests are served cup after cup, and etiquette is to never quite finish yours, so it can keep being topped up.

Tongba is the signature warm millet brew of the Limbu people of eastern Nepal, and it doubles as the name of the wooden vessel it is served in. Fermented finger millet is packed into the tongba, topped with near-boiling water and sipped through a pierced bamboo straw (pipsing) that filters out the grain, and the same vessel is refilled two or three times as the evening goes on. Offered to guests as a mark of respect and drunk at festivals and in cold weather, it is treated as much as a warming tonic as an intoxicant. Presented here as a cultural and educational overview rather than a step-by-step brewing manual.