Bhaktapur snack: juju dhau, the ”king of yogurt”

One of the food items I had read about that was a specialty of Bhaktapur was juju dhau, supposedly a very unique yogurt.

On the way back to the Peacock Guest House, we passed to the north of the Bhimsen temple, where there was a side street with several stores selling juju dhau.

We went to one that looked clean and welcoming, with customers buying things and chatting with the store keepers.

They were also smart to put the sign juju dhau in Roman alphabet, so tourists could recognize it!

We started out ordering two to share among the four of us.

The shopkeeper pulled them out of a big fridge. They came in these conical clay cups.

There was a bubbly skin on top, and pushing through that was a silky, plush custard. Kind of like the texture of crème caramel. But with a refreshing taste from the tang of yogurt, and not too sweet.

We quickly finished our first servings, and ordered seconds! To my surprise, the clay cups are just thrown away. When I put the empty cup on the counter, the shopkeeper said, “We don’t reuse them; there is a refuse bin behind you.”

They also sell the yogurt in bigger sizes…

… and in tub format.

Each of our small clay vessels of juju dhau was 50 rupees, or 0.37 USD. So delicious, and truly different from any yogurt or curd or crème caramel I had ever had before. I wish I could eat this every day!