All dishes

Jeri is Nepal's take on jalebi — coils of naturally fermented batter piped into hot ghee, fried crisp, then plunged into syrup so they crackle on the outside and gush on the inside. In the Kathmandu Valley it is inseparable from swari, the flaky fried flatbread it is eaten with at dawn, a Newar breakfast ritual that draws queues outside old sweet shops in Ason and Indra Chowk. Festival mornings, especially during Dashain and Tihar, are unthinkable without a paper cone of warm jeri.

Bhaktapur's legendary "king of curds" is a thick, gently sweetened buffalo-milk yoghurt set in unglazed clay pots whose porous walls draw off whey until the texture turns almost custard-like. Newar dhau-makers have guarded the technique for generations, ripening the pots on beds of rice husk under layers of blankets. No Bhaktapur wedding, bratabandha or Bisket Jatra feast is complete without it, and it is still sold by the potful in the old city's back lanes.

Kheer is slow-simmered rice pudding, milk reduced patiently with rice, sugar and cardamom until it turns thick, creamy and pale gold. In Nepal it carries genuine ritual weight: it is offered as prasad at temples, cooked for birthdays and pujas, and celebrated with its own festival, Kheer Khane Din on Shrawan 15, which marks the end of the rice-planting season. Served warm in winter and chilled in summer, always with a scatter of nuts.

Lal Mohan is Nepal's beloved cousin of gulab jamun: khuwa-and-flour dumplings fried to a deep mahogany brown, then left to drink up warm cardamom syrup until they are heavy and syrup-logged through to the middle. Nepali versions run darker, larger and a touch less floral than their Indian counterparts. They anchor wedding buffets, Dashain and Tihar spreads, and the glass cases of every mithai shop in Kathmandu.

Malpuwa are lacy, syrup-soaked fritters of rice flour and milk, fried until the edges frill and crisp while the centre stays soft and custardy. Nepali households often mash ripe banana into the batter, which deepens the flavour and helps the edges caramelise. They are made in quantity for Holi, Janaki Navami and Teej, and sold hot from roadside pans in the Terai through the winter.

Pustakari is a chewy, fudge-like Nepali confection built from chaku or molasses cooked down with khuwa and ghee, then loaded with coconut, peanuts and dried fruit and set into diamonds. Dense and slow to eat, it was traditionally an energy food for winter and long walks, and it is closely tied to the Newar sweet-making trade of the Kathmandu Valley. It appears in force around Maghe Sankranti, when molasses sweets take over the shops.

Rasbari are pillowy white spheres of fresh curdled-milk cheese (chhena) poached in light cardamom syrup until they swell and turn spongy enough to squeeze between your fingers. Sold chilled in bowls of their own syrup at sweet shops across Nepal, they are the standard sweet to bring to a house when visiting, and a fixture at Newar and Madhesi celebrations alike. Eaten cold, they are the perfect foil to a heavy festival meal.

Sikarni is thick yoghurt hung overnight until nearly all the whey drains away, then whipped with sugar, saffron and warm spices into something between a mousse and a cheesecake filling. Widely regarded as a Newar creation from the Kathmandu Valley, it is the traditional closing course of a formal Nepali feast and turns up at weddings, Dashain and Bhai Tika. It needs no cooking at all — only patience while the yoghurt drains.