Have you tried MOMOs? They are simply delicious.

MOMO is a Chinese dish and is spread all over Nepal (India’s neighbouring country) and also in most of the northern part of India, north east to be precise. You can get it in any Chinese restaurant all over India. But today we would like to help you prepare it at home. Try this at home and get creative.

Now MOMO is similar to Samosa in a sense that vegetables are stuffed in dough which is further fried in hot oil, but that is the case of fried MOMO.

But today we are giving out a recipe which is popularly known as steamed MOMO. It is a well-known dish in Nepal and also caters the taste of Eastern Indian states. MOMOs are small rolling of dough stuffed with something you desire to eat.

You can fill them with any minced meat of your choice or you can go vegetarian in case you are from PETA.

 Momos are usually served with a fiery chilli sauce or tomato chutney and a clear soup made up of meat (or dried spinach in case you are PETA activists).

As I have told you about this very delicious dish, it’s also my obligation to help you prepare the same in your kitchen. You see , I cannot come to your kitchen/home unless you invite me so I am leaving a procedure note on how you can prepare on your own without remembering me(nevertheless I don’t mind if you invite me over once you prepare the MOMOs or we can prepare together, what’s your say).

To begin with, we will need these as ingredients.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • Salt to taste
  • Water (to prepare the dough, in case you are wondering. Halt you will also need water to steam the MOMOs once you finish stuffing it with minced meat of your choice or other vegetarian items, choice is yours)
  • 1/2 kg minced meat
  • 1 large onion chopped very fine( I feel one onion is enough to prepare the stuffing, in case you want more onions, remember onions are precious and may cost you dearly, so use wisely ; just kidding , you must not compromise on the taste you want you see)
  • 8-10 cloves of garlic chopped very fine
  • 3 tbsps. soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp. chilli sauce
  • 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
  • Salt to taste
  • 3 tbsps. vegetable/canola/sunflower cooking oil

Preparation:

  • Mix the flour and salt to taste and add a little water at a time to make stiff dough, it’s better to use your hands as you get the feel of the dough when it’s ready for stuffing.
  • Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions till light brown, add the garlic and fry the mixture till its turn golden colour.
  • Add the meat (Vegetarian / fine grated vegetables of your choice, strictly for vegans).
  • Add the soy and chilli sauces and mix well.
  • Add the freshly ground pepper, salt to taste and cook till the meat/vegetable is done.
  • Divide the dough into equal-sized balls and roll into very thin circles of roughly 4″ diameter (you can even make the dough circles bigger in case you want big MOMOs).

(You need to be careful when you place the stuffing in the dough and you will require water to seal the circular edges with help of water. Just you need to get a touch of sprinkles of water and seal the edges of the dough so that it does not open when you steam it in a closed vessel.)

  • Put a tablespoon-full of pork in the centre of each circle. Fold the edges over the meat/vegetables and pinch and twist to seal or fold the MOMO in half (into a semi-circular shape) and pinch the edges shut. Get as creative as you like with shapes, as long as you make sure to seal the edges well.
  • Place the MOMOs in a steaming dish and cook for 10-15 minutes.
  • Serve piping hot with fiery chilli sauce and soup prepared from your desired item(chicken soup for non-vegetarians and spinach soup added with dhaniya masala for the vegetarians)

You may ask about the preparation of sauce and soup, so to help you I am giving you some tips as you would not enjoy the MOMOs without the sauce and the soup.

For chilli sauce:

If you are not that patient about preparing the chilli/tomatoes sauce you can get one from the grocery shop. In case you feel that home food is best food try my sauce recipe.

Ingredients:

6-8 green chillies

3 tomatoes

Salt to taste

Cooking /Edible oil 2 tbsp.

Put the chillies and tomatoes in the mixture grinder and make a paste out of it. Add salt and oil as per your need and serve it with hot MOMOs. Isn’t it delicious?

To prepare soup:

Take some grated meat/minced meat and boil it water (be cautious when you add water as it may make you soup watery which we don’t want it to be) in a closed vessel till it gets cooked. Add salt and ginger paste to it and stir the mixture till it gets thicker texture to some extent. Further add chicken masala and cardamom paste and boil it for 3 minutes. Serve the soup with leaves of dhaniya and pieces of lemon.

Have a good time with MOMOs and don’t forget your friend who taught you to prepare this.

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