Momo

Ingredients

Wrapper

• 400 gplain flour
• ½ tspsalt
• 220 mllukewarm water
• 1 tbspoil

Filling

• 500 gminced buffalo meat, or 500 g minced beef with 20 percent fat
• 2onions (250 g), very finely chopped
• 1 bunchspring onions, finely sliced
• 4garlic cloves, grated
• 30 gfresh ginger, grated
• 1 tsptimur (Sichuan pepper), toasted and ground
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tspground coriander
• ½ tspturmeric
• 2 tspsalt
• 2 tbspmustard oil or melted ghee
• 3 tbspcold water
• 1small bunch coriander leaf, chopped

Golbheda ko achar (tomato chutney)

• 5ripe tomatoes
• 4dried red chillies
• 3 tbspwhite sesame seeds
• 3garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 1 tsptimur
• 1 tbspmustard oil
• 1 tspsalt
• Juice of ½ lemon

Directions

1. Knead the flour, salt, water and oil for 8–10 minutes into a firm, smooth dough, then cover and rest 30 minutes. It should be stiffer than pasta dough so the wrappers can be rolled thin without tearing.
2. Mix the filling with your hand: meat, both onions, garlic, ginger, all the spices, salt and oil, then work in the cold water for 2 minutes until the mixture turns sticky and slightly glossy. Fold in the coriander last.
3. Fry a teaspoon of the filling in a small pan and taste it. Momo filling should be assertively salty and gingery, because the wrapper is bland.
4. Make the achar: blister the tomatoes, dried chillies and unpeeled garlic in a dry pan or directly over a flame until blackened in patches, about 8 minutes. Toast the sesame separately until they pop and smell nutty.
5. Peel the tomatoes and garlic and grind everything with the timur, salt, mustard oil and lemon juice into a coarse orange-red sauce. It should be smoky, nutty and sharp.
6. Roll the dough into two ropes and cut 30 pieces. Roll each into a 9–10 cm round, thinner at the rim than the centre; the thicker middle stops the base bursting.
7. Put a heaped tablespoon of filling in the centre. For the classic round momo, hold the wrapper in your cupped palm and pinch small pleats around the rim with your thumb and forefinger, rotating as you go, then twist the gathered top closed. For the half-moon, fold and pleat along one edge.
8. Oil the steamer baskets well, or line them with cabbage leaves, and set the momo in with a finger’s gap between them; they swell and will fuse if crowded.
9. Steam over vigorously boiling water for 10–12 minutes. They are done when the wrappers turn translucent and slightly glossy, feel taut, and no longer stick to your finger when touched.
10. Serve immediately, straight from the basket, with the tomato achar and a small bowl of the clear meat juices, and eat them by hand so you can catch the burst of soup inside.

Technique

• Water beaten into the filling is what creates the mouthful of broth. Without it a momo is a dry dumpling; with it the fat and water render into soup inside the sealed wrapper.
• Timur, the Nepali Sichuan pepper, gives the numbing citrus note that separates a momo from a Tibetan or Chinese dumpling. Toast it before grinding.
• Buffalo, not beef, is standard in Kathmandu, where cow slaughter is restricted; buff momo is the default order and has a deeper, slightly gamey flavour.
• Oil the steamer properly. A torn base loses the juice, and that juice is the whole reason people eat momo.

Substitutions

• No buffalo: minced beef with 20 percent fat is the closest. Minced pork or chicken thigh also work; chicken needs an extra tablespoon of oil to stop it drying.
• For a vegetarian version, use 500 g finely chopped cabbage salted and squeezed dry, plus grated paneer and the same aromatics.
• Shop-bought gyoza wrappers can be used at a pinch, but they are thinner and will not hold the juice as well; press them into a double thickness at the base.

Variations

• Kothey momo, half-steamed then pan-fried flat on one side until crisp.
• Jhol momo, served swimming in a spiced sesame and tomato broth.
• C-momo, steamed then tossed in a fiery chilli sauce, a Kathmandu bar staple.

History

Reached Bhutan from Tibet; Bhutanese versions are often filled with datshi cheese rather than the meat used elsewhere in the Himalaya.

Frequently asked questions

What is Momo?

Momo is a snack from Bhutan: steamed dumplings with beef, cheese or cabbage filling. Reached Bhutan from Tibet; Bhutanese versions are often filled with datshi cheese rather than the meat used elsewhere in the Himalaya.

How long does Momo take to make?

Momo takes 1 hr of preparation and 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings (about 30 momo). It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Momo?

Yes, within limits. No buffalo: minced beef with 20 percent fat is the closest. Minced pork or chicken thigh also work; chicken needs an extra tablespoon of oil to stop it drying. For a vegetarian version, use 500 g finely chopped cabbage salted and squeezed dry, plus grated paneer and the same aromatics. Shop-bought gyoza wrappers can be used at a pinch, but they are thinner and will not hold the juice as well; press them into a double thickness at the base.

What is the most important thing to get right in Momo?

Oil the steamer properly. A torn base loses the juice, and that juice is the whole reason people eat momo.