Thursday, February 12, 2009

Vegetable Momos / Vegetable Steamed Dumplings

A training program during the early years of my career took me to Chennai with an all girls team. It was 4 days of absolute fun. We used to wait for the training to get over so that we could eat out, roam around and shop like mad women!! And each evening we accomplished our tasks on our checklist. One night after loads of street shopping, 3 of us got into a very plush Chinese restaurant with mighty hunger pangs. While flipping through the menu I got rather fascinated by reading the name MOMO's which was then a new thing to my ears and stomach!! A friend of mine who belongs to Delhi educated me that it is a very famous starter among Nepalise and Tibetans and thus popular in Delhi and one must try tasting it. And we went ahead and ordered it and it was bliss for me after that. Right from the appearance to the smell to the texture to the taste it just made me fall in love with Momo.


It has been quite a while since I have been wanting to try making momos at home but never had the courage to try them. Yesterday while just browsing the net I thought of giving a search for the recipe for vegetable momos. After reading through a lot of recipes from various sites I decided to try something on my own without a direct reference from any site because it was that easy a recipe to try. You can make chicken filling too but as I had only vegetables available in my refrigerator I tried out the vegetarian version.

Ingredients:
  • 1 cup - All purpose flour
  • Salt to taste
  • Water to knead
For the filling:
  • 1 - Carrot, finely diced
  • 6-8 - French beans, finely chopped
  • 1 handful, cabbage leaves, chopped
  • 2 - Spring Onions, chopped
  • 2 tsp - Oil
  • 1/2 tsp - Pepper
  • 1/2 tsp - Soya sauce
  • 1/2 tsp - Crushed red dry chillies
  • 3 cloves - Garlic, chopped
  • 1/2 inch - Ginger piece, chopped
  • Salt to taste
For Chilly garlic sauce: (the measurement of the items depends upon how you like it. Please feel free to change it according to your taste)
  • 10-15 - Dry red chillies soaked in hot water or Fresh Red Jalapenos, de-seeded and chopped
  • 4 big cloves garlic, chopped
  • Salt to taste
  • A pinch of sugar
  • 1 tsp - White vinegar

Method:
  • Mix flour and salt and add adequate water to bind the flour. Knead it into a dough as you do for roti. Cover and keep aside
  • Microwave carrots and beans for 3-4 minutes
  • Heat a wok with oil and saute ginger, garlic, crushed chillies. Add cabbage and spring onion and saute for a minute. Add cooked carrot and beans and suate. Add soya sauce, salt and pepper. Turn off the gas and cool it.
  • Take a marble sized ball from the dough and roll it ito a thin circle of approx 3" diameter. It should neither be too transparent nor opaque but should be such that when you place it against light it looks translucent. Place it on to your left palm and place a teaspoon full of filling and seal it. I followed this link for understanding how to fold the momos. There are 2 ways of doing it. The first one being the half moon(semi circle) and second one the round momo(gunny bag style). Repeat the process till you finish the dough or filling.
  • Now apply some oil on the steamer and place them carefully on to it and cover it up and cook for 15-20 minutes.
  • Serve steaming hot momos with chilly-garlic sauce.
For the sauce :
  • Put all the ingredients in an blender and blend it to a coarse texture. Taste it to check if everything is balanced.
  • Pour it into a saucepan and heat it on medium flame and let it simmer for 5 minutes or until the raw smell goes. Cool and serve. Garnish with scallions.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

hmmm..thats too yummy and cutie to resist Divz...real pleasure.

Adlak's tiny world said...

hm cute pockets of vegetables... looks nice. how u prepare this much thin cups... looks awesome dear.

I prepare kozhukattai(sweet stuffing inside) in this method but cant make this much thin outer covering.

Mishmash ! said...

Though i havent tasted MOmos as such, i have had the chinese variations of it....and like u, i just love 'em :) great job with the dough....so thin!!

Malar Gandhi said...

Momo's is like our Indian Kozhukkatai...that is how I got introduced about this dish. Instead of jaggery+sesame...its vegetables! Love it.

Anonymous said...

Hi Divzs..
Great job dear ..Dumplings looks so sweet dear ..really lovely ..will try this soon...thanks daa..

love
veena

Swapna said...

Momos are really looking great. Trying to get this recipe long time. S i got it...

Divz said...

ann.. it is truly a pleasure to eat momos

hema... its as easy as u roll chapatis of wheat flour dough. If u r good at making thin chapatis this wud be easy..

shn.. i have never had authentic chinese momos..i mean i had from chinese restuarants in india..now its a question how much authentic is that?

malar - ya thats true..we make kuzhakatai using rice flour and chinese make it with flour..

veena - u r welcome sweetie..pls do try making it..its real yum!!

swapna - thanks swapna..do try making this..and do lemme know how it turned out..

Varsha Vipins said...

MOMO..I am liking the sound of it..Momo..hehe..They look cute..:)
Typical me..thinking whether Whole wheat pockets would fit in for the recipe..pls don kill me..:D

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

hey thanks for dropping by.. veg momos are soooo cute... lovely.

Shah cooks said...

this was a real fav..and i used to make it too till i had kids and then switched to easier recipes. what's the recipe for ur sauce?

Divz said...

hi varsha...even i thot abt the health factor!! but am not too sure of how it wud taste if u use whole wheat flour..probably it wud go with fried momos..but then again its not too healthy to eat deep fried!!

thanks mahimaa for dropping in here too..

mallugirl..i know its a li'l bit of a work..shall update the recipe for chilly garlic sauce..

Anonymous said...

MOMOS i could have any time & really crave for. In Calcutta there are tons of Genuine Restaurants, which serve Momos, & these places used to be our regular joint during college days!

Looks lovely & thanks for stirring those memories..:-)

mallugirl said...

thanks for the sauce recipe. mine is similar except that i soak the dry chilies and add rice wine vinegar.

Divz said...

soma..i know how much u must be missing all those days..everytime i make or eat momos it rekindles my old memories of my first job!!truly pleasurable..

mallugirl - ya soaking the dry red chillies wud make the grinding easier. as i mostly used fresh red jalapenos half the job is done..anyways have updated the post with the soaking part!! thanks for the suggestion

Unknown said...

Hey this one looks so flavorful !!
i love momos !! Great Job !! :)

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Anandi said...

I get the momos well enough - both the veg and chicken. The problem is that the covering dries out when they cool down. Also, the mouth, where I make the folds becomes thick and hard. How do I rectify this?

Divz said...

@anandi, sorry for a late reply..you have to serve momos steaming hot..remember, in restaurants they serve you right from the steamers..so if u need to prepare and keep and serve it later u should steam it well just before serving. If there is excess dough after putting the filling u can simple pinch them away.