Rikhiya

A steel bowl of boiled potato pieces sits in thick white curd, still cool from the pot. Then comes the sound. Hot mustard oil, loaded with fenugreek seeds and dried red chilies, hits the curd with a loud hiss, and a sharp, nutty smell fills the kitchen. One quick stir, and the plain bowl turns tangy, creamy and gently hot. This is chukauni (चुकौनी), a side dish from Palpa in western Nepal, now served in homes and restaurants far beyond the district where it began.

What Is Chukauni?

Chukauni is a potato and yogurt side dish. Boiled potatoes are cut into pieces and folded into whisked curd with chopped onion, green chili and fresh coriander. Over the top goes a tempering of hot mustard oil with fenugreek seeds, dried chilies and turmeric. In English it is often called Nepali potato salad, though the name only half fits. It is creamier than most salads, and the hot oil adds a pungent, slightly bitter warmth that no cold salad has.

The name is spelled चुकौनी in Nepali and is sometimes written चुकाउनी. It is not a main course. Chukauni is a companion dish, eaten beside roti, rice or beaten rice, much the way pickle or raita sits next to a meal elsewhere in South Asia.

Palpa, the Home of Chukauni

Palpa is a hill district in western Nepal, and Tansen is its district headquarters. Writers on local food often say that two things identify Palpa: its dhaka cloth and its chukauni. The dish is especially associated with the Magar community, one of the hill peoples of the region.

The hill town of Tansen in Palpa, Nepal, at sunset with hazy hills in the distance Tansen, the hill town of Palpa, at sunset. Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0

Its history is thin. No reliable record gives a date or a name for the cook who first mixed potatoes with curd and poured hot oil over them. Most accounts only agree that it grew out of everyday farm kitchens in the hills, where potatoes, curd and mustard oil were ordinary supplies and a quick, filling side dish was always useful. Today it is served at family gatherings and local festivals, and it is counted among the dishes that make a visit to Palpa worthwhile.

Ingredients

This makes enough for four people as a side dish.

  • 500 g potatoes (about 4 medium), boiled whole in their skins
  • 1 cup (about 250 g) thick plain curd
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1 or 2 green chilies, finely chopped
  • A small handful of fresh coriander, chopped
  • Salt to taste

For the spice powder (traditional version)

  • 2 tablespoons white sesame seeds
  • ½ teaspoon timur (Nepali Sichuan pepper)
  • 2 dried red chilies

For the tempering

  • 2 tablespoons mustard oil
  • ½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds
  • 1 or 2 dried red chilies
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

The Tempering: Where the Flavour Comes From

Most of the character of chukauni lives in the last minute of cooking. Mustard oil is heated until it smokes lightly, which takes away its raw sharpness and leaves a nutty, pungent flavour. Fenugreek seeds go in next. They give a bitter, almost maple-like aroma, and they turn from golden to dark in a few seconds, so there is little time to look away. The dried chilies puff and darken in the same oil. Turmeric is added last, off the heat, because it burns almost at once in oil this hot.

A heap of dried red chilies at a market in Nepal Dried red chilies at a market in Nepal. Photo: Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Timur adds a different note. It is the Nepali cousin of Sichuan pepper, with a lemony scent and a light tingling on the tongue. In the traditional version it is dry-roasted with sesame seeds and dried chilies, ground to a powder and stirred into the curd. Some cooks skip this step, but it is the part that most separates a Palpa-style chukauni from a plain potato and curd mix.

How to Make Chukauni

  1. Boil the potatoes. Cook them whole in salted water for 15 to 20 minutes, until a knife slides in easily but the potatoes still hold their shape. Drain, let them cool completely, then peel and cut into bite-size pieces.
  2. Make the spice powder. Dry-roast the sesame seeds, timur and dried chilies in a pan over low heat until fragrant. Cool, then grind to a coarse powder.
  3. Prepare the curd. Whisk the curd until smooth. Stir in the spice powder and salt.
  4. Combine. Add the potatoes, onion, green chili and coriander to the curd and fold gently so the potato pieces stay whole.
  5. Heat the oil. Warm the mustard oil in a small pan until it begins to smoke, then lower the heat slightly.
  6. Temper. Add the fenugreek seeds and fry for a few seconds until they darken. Add the dried chilies, then take the pan off the heat and stir in the turmeric.
  7. Pour and serve. Pour the sizzling oil straight over the curd and potatoes. Mix lightly and serve at once, or chill for 20 minutes first.

Tips for Better Chukauni

  • Thick curd works best. If the curd is watery, hang it in a clean cloth for 30 minutes.
  • Cool the potatoes fully before mixing. Warm potatoes can thin the curd and make it taste flat.
  • Do not let the fenugreek burn black. Over-burnt seeds turn the whole bowl bitter.
  • Add the tempering just before serving, so it is still hissing when it hits the curd.
  • Taste and salt the curd itself, not only the potatoes. Plain boiled potato soaks up a lot of salt.

How Chukauni Is Eaten

Chukauni is always eaten alongside something else. Roti and sel roti, the ring-shaped rice bread of Nepal, are common partners, and so are steamed rice and chiura (beaten rice). It is eaten warm or cold. In hot weather many cooks prefer it chilled, since the curd keeps it light and cooling, while a spoonful beside a heavier meal cuts through richer dishes.

Sel roti, a ring-shaped fried rice bread, on a steel plate Sel roti, the ring-shaped rice bread often served with chukauni. Photo: Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Variations

Recipes differ from kitchen to kitchen. Some add chopped tomato to the curd. Others stir in boiled green peas for a little sweetness. A simpler home version, sometimes called dahi tadka in India, skips the spice powder and uses mustard oil, green chili and a pinch of dry mango powder in the tempering. All of these keep the same idea: soft potatoes, cool curd and a hot oil poured on at the end.

Chukauni at a Glance

  • Origin: Palpa district, western Nepal
  • Type: Side dish, vegetarian
  • Main ingredients: Boiled potato, curd, onion, green chili, coriander
  • Tempering: Mustard oil, fenugreek seeds, dried chilies, turmeric
  • Traditional spice: Timur, with roasted sesame and dried chilies
  • Eaten with: Roti, sel roti, steamed rice, chiura
  • Time: About 35 minutes, including boiling the potatoes
  • Serves: 4 as a side dish

Questions People Ask

Is chukauni vegetarian? Yes. It contains curd, so it is not vegan.

Is chukauni spicy? Mildly. The heat comes from the green chilies and the dried chilies in the oil, so it is easy to turn up or down.

What can replace timur? Freshly ground black pepper with a little roasted sesame is a common stand-in. The taste will be different, but still good.

Can chukauni be made ahead? The potatoes and curd can be mixed a few hours ahead and kept in the fridge. The tempering should go on just before serving. Leftovers are best eaten within a day.

How is chukauni different from raita? Raita is usually raw vegetables in lightly spiced curd. Chukauni is built around boiled potatoes and ends with a hot mustard oil tempering that changes the whole flavour.

A bowl of chukauni is a small thing, a few potatoes, some curd and a spoon of hot oil. Still, it carries the taste of a hill district and the habits of its kitchens, and it fits easily into any meal.