Masaura or the dehydrated balls of black-lentil paste and minced vegetables is one of the common dried foods used for making curry. It is usually made up of black lentil or maasko daal which is made into the shape of balls and then put on the sun to sun-dry them. These are stored in an airtight container and used later be curried with potatoes to be served with steamed rice. These could be bought at the supermarkets or at Ason bazaar in Kathmandu or you could also make it at home. The process is not so difficult and the ingredients required (which aren’t many) are easily available.

The process for making masaura is given below:

Ingredients:

Black lentil

Asafetida (hing)

Ghee or clarified butter

Procedure:

First of all, soak the black lentil (you can also use mung daal, green lentil) overnight. After that, wash it properly removing all of its cover. Then, take a blender or silauto (traditional Nepali crusher) and grind the lentil into a thick paste. When the paste is ready, add a pinch of hing into it and mix thoroughly. Then, coat the upper base of a tray with ghee (clarified butter) and put the paste into it using your hand (giving shape to it) at some distance from one another. Keep the tray under the sun for drying until the masauras are dry which takes about two days.

You can also add grated cauliflower, radish, cabbage, taro or kubhindo to the paste to enhance its taste.