MOMOS - TASTY STEAM DUMPLINGS OF SIKKIM

The Dough

First of all, make the dough. If you want to make momo dough for four people, use about 3 cups of flour and 3/4 cups of water. (You don't have to be very exact about these measurements)

Mix the flour and water very well by hand and keep adding water until you make a pretty smooth ball of dough. Then knead the dough very well until the dough is flexible. Now leave your dough in the pot with the lid on while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. You should not let the dough dry out, or it will be hard to work with.

To see momo making done by two masters, watch David Johnson's spare, poignant short documentary, "Momo," about two Tibetan refugees living in Dharamsala, India who make momo's for a living.


The Filling

We make momo's with either meat or vegetables. In Sikkim, we usually use beef, or just vegetables for our vegetarian friends.






For vegetable momo filling:

Chop all the following ingredients into very, very small pieces:

• Two onions
• Two inches fresh ginger
• Two or three cloves of garlic
• A bunch of cilantro
• One pound of cabbage
• One pound of tofu*
• One quarter pound of dark brown mushrooms (I buy them dried from Asian markets)*
• Two tablespoons of soy sauce
• One teaspoon of chicken, beef or vegetable bouillon

*don't use these if you are making meat momos

For meat momo filling, add:

One pound of ground beef: This beef replaces the mushrooms and tofu in the vegetable recipe. If you have enough time, you can use un-ground beef and chop the meat into very small pieces.

For both kinds of momos, put all of the ingredients in a pot or big bowl, then add a teaspoon of bouillon and two tablespoons of soy sauce. Mix everything together very well. (If you are making meat momo's with ground beef, you may need to use your hands to mix it up.)

  Half-Moon Momo:

The half-moon momo is very pretty. For this style, you begin the same as with the round momo style, holding the flat circular dough in your left hand and putting a tablespoon of filling in the middle of the dough. Then you have to fold your circle of dough in half, covering over the filling. Now press together the two edges of the half circle so that there is no open edge in your half circle, and the filling is completely enclosed in the dough. You will now have the basic half-moon shape, and you can make your momo pretty by pinching and folding along the curved edge of the half circle. Start at one tip of the half-moon, and fold over a very small piece of dough, pinching it down. Continue folding and pinching from the starting point, moving along the edge until you reach the other tip of the half-moon. You can experiment with different folds and pinches to find the way that is easiest and nicest for you.

As you are making your momos, you will need to have a non-stick surface and a damp cloth or lid handy to keep the momo's you've made from drying out while you're finishing the others. You can lay the momos in the lightly-greased steamer and keep the lid on them, or you can lay them on wax paper and cover them with the damp cloth.
Finally, you should boil water in a large steamer. (Tibetans often use a double decker steamer, to make many momos at one time.) Oil the steamer surface lightly before putting the momos in, so they won't stick to the metal, then place as many as you can without touching each other. Add the momos after the water is already boiling. Steam the momos for 10 minutes, then serve them hot, with soy sauce or hot sauce of your choice to dip them in. At home, I use soy sauce and the spicy version of Patak's Hot Lime Relish, which I get in Indian stores, or the Asian section of supermarkets. If you can get it, Tibetan hot sauce is very good. Be careful when you take the first bite of the hot momos since the juice is very, very hot, and can burn you easily