Yomari: Steamed Rice Dumplings from Nepal
Ridhi Agrawal digs deep into Nepalese culture and the steamed rice dumpling that form an integral part of Newari celebrations.
On a sunny late February morning, I was on an assignment in Dhulikhel, a municipality southeast of Kathmandu, Nepal. In the buzz of Narayani Square, I watched a group of women meticulously working their hands, rolling and shaping dough, deftly stuffing it and sealing it closed. It was my first introduction to what I would soon learn, is yomari, a delicacy of the Newar community, the original inhabitants of Kathmandu Valley.
Yomari is a steamed, conch-shaped rice-flour dumpling filled with chaku, a mixture of jaggery, ghee and nuts or khoya. Yomari gets its name from the joining of two Nepalbhasa words: yoh meaning ‘to like’ and ‘mari’ meaning roti.
Yomari is not unlike the modak, a steamed delicacy from India eaten during Ganesh Chaturthi, but its shape is unique — a conch, or teardrop, or more fittingly, the top of a Buddhist temple (the gajur). And the filling — chaku, is like a jaggery taffy made with sugarcane jaggery and sesame seeds.
The tradition of yomari goes back centuries. In the book, Social History of Nepal, authors Shankar Lal Joshi and T. R. Vaidya write that the people of Kathmandu Valley would make yomari as far back as the 6th century. Expectedly, there are legends about its creation that are quite fascinating. One claims a couple from Panauti, in Kavrepalanchok District, made yomari using their first rice harvest on a full moon night. A deity in disguise (either Goddess Annapurna or God Kuber), passing through the village, was offered yomari in commensality, and loved immediately. The deity blessed the couple with wealth and prosperity, thus establishing a tradition of preparing yomari on full moon nights in the months of Mangsir-Poush, using the new rice harvest
Tradition and Feasts
This bread is culturally significant to the Newar community. Yomari is associated with pancha tattva, the five elements of nature — the flour dough is the earth, the chaku filling is fire, and sesame, the wind.
The delicacy finds its way into many rituals and practices of the community. “Yomari is a symbol of new beginnings,” said Prem Hira Tuladhar, a retired Nepalbhasa teacher in Kathmandu. It is part of the celebrations of Yomari Punhi, a festival in which the Newars offer their first rice harvest to deities like Annapurna, the goddess of crops and food, and Kuber, the god of wealth. It is observed on the full moon in Mangsir-Poush (November-December). Yomari is also offered during worship, over the 4 days of Yomari Punhi. “On the Poornima in Mangsir-Poush, we eat yomari after puja. Some also make yomari and store it in a container with the new rice harvest for four days,” says Tuladhar. On the fourth day, the yomari is fed to the family.
It is also a tradition for children to visit other homes during the four-day festival, singing folks songs, and asking for yomari. (You can listen to the song here.) The song describes the person who shares yomari a young joyful girl, whereas the person who doesn't share a stingy old woman.
Yomari is also eaten for warmth and nourishment. “Having yomari in the winters, the chaku, sesame and khoya keeps the body warm,” said home chef, Rita Nakarmi, who runs a Newar cuisine cloud kitchen, Mithoyomari, in Kathmandu.
In Newar culture, it is also customary to feed yomari to pregnant women. In a ritual called 'dahi chiura', the woman’s family feeds the pregnant women curd and flattened rice in her ninth month. While observing this ritual, the woman’s family also prepares yomari for her in-laws. “In our culture, in the ninth month, we take 108 yomari for the pregnant woman and her in-laws to celebrate with others,” said Nakarmi.
Tuladhar describes another fascinating tradition. "On the day we move homes, after worship and feeding priests, we throw yomari in all four directions," she tells me.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of yomari is in birthday celebrations. Newas do not use flower garlands during these celebrations. “ Instead, yomari is strung together to make a garland when children celebrate their even-numbered birthdays: 2, 4 and 6. Some even celebrate until age 12.” The number of yomaris in the garland corresponds to the child's age, and the garland is representative of abundance and fullness. “But on the second birthday, it is mandatory to distribute yomaris within the child's maternal home,” says Tuladhar.
Yomari, like many traditional sweets, isn’t just a delicious delicacy but also symbolic of the culture, customs and rituals of a community.
Ridhi Agrawal is a freelance journalist based in Nepal. She reports on food, arts and culture, and travel and has been published in the South China Morning Post, The National News, Travel and Leisure and more.
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