Mo:Mo -- Once You Have One, You Want MO MO MO

-

If you ask any Nepali what their favorite foods are, they will most likely say 1. dal-bhat-tarkari, or 2. Momo. If I decided what I could eat in my Last Supper, it would be momo.

Why is it called "Momo"? I have no idea. But I always have said that once you have one, you want MO(re) MO(re) MO(re). This is a delicious fusion of Tibetan/Chinese Cuisine with the curries of South Asia. This was the first dish I made that A said she really loved. The secret lies in the sauce and the curry kick in the meat itself. A's coworkers love this as well, so I decided to make it for their Holiday Potluck.

Here are the major ingredients that I gathered for momo.

Making the sauce

I always cooking the momo sauce first. This momo sauce is my mom's recipe, and I got it from her when she visited me last time. It's got the aromas that I grew up with, and every time I make it, it reminds me of eating momos at the Bakery Cafe in Nepal. I first start with sauteing onions and garlic together with salt, turmeric and cumin seeds. The first step in that is always heating the oil in a deep pan on medium and adding turmeric and cumin seeds to the heated oil. The spices will have to seer a little bit. This releases the flavors and the flavors seep into your sauce making it delish.


After the onions and garlic are browned slightly, I add the tomatoes and juice to the pan. Add cumin, garam masala, and some more salt and pepper.
Turn the heat to medium high and as soon as the mixture starts to boil, stir it and set it on low. Simmer for about half hour, stirring every 7-8 minutes. While you're simmering, you can follow the momo instructions below. The tomato mixture should look like this:

Add cilantro to the mixture and remove from heat. Let it cool for a while, since you will be pureeing it in a mixer.
Puree the mixture. If you want a kick, add some Serrano pepper and/or Cayenne pepper to it.

Making the momo

I chose ground turkey for this--since it is close to Thanksgiving and all--but you can use any ground meat. I have never experimented with vegetarian momos, so I couldn't tell you how that would taste. Bring some water to boil in your steamer. If you don't have a momo steamer (which you can find at any oriental store--it's not called "Momo" steamer). You can also find this at Target. This is a good alternative, but the momos can stick on the wood, so you will have to apply oil or butter to it to make the surface more slippery.

While the water is boiling, chop up the cilantro, onions, minced garlic, one small tomato (adds juiciness to the momos), olive oil, and coleslaw mix. Mix it all together. Your hands work really well with this, but be sure to wash your hands before and after (thoroughly). I don't want any cases of Salmonella reported because of this recipe! This is what it needs to look like after you mix it all together.
The reason I use coleslaw mix with this recipe is simple: it's really easy to find and it is easier than trying to chop up your cabbage! This blog is here to make everything easy, because when I started cooking, I had no idea how to do anything! Coleslaw mix rocks, because it also has extra veggies, such as carrots and red cabbage. Momo purists may not be open to the idea, but I welcome you to try it!

Next, after the water starts boiling, it's time to make the actual momo! Now, there are a lot of sophisticated folds of momos, such as this one, or this one. I'm doing a simple fold--it will be as easy as my egg-roll fold.

You will need wonton wrapper from your local Asian market, or even Target/Walmart/Wholefoods/Hyvee--these are practically everywhere in the produce isle. Place wonton warpper in a clean surface, and brush lightly with water.
Next, put one TEAspoon in the center of the wanton. You don't want to overstuff, because otherwise the meat will seep out and break the integrity of the momo.
Fold the bottom part upwards and top part down--just like my eggroll.
Fold the right and left edges.
Finally, fold over the corners as well so that the momo looks like this:
Place it in the steamer.
Steam for 15 minutes. The momo has to look translucent to be cooked through.
Serve with the momo sauce, and enjoy!!

Some tips:

  1. Make the sauce simultaneously with the momos. It will save you a lot of time
  2. Buy canned tomatoes. The juices add extra flavor.
  3. Make this with friends! It's a fun activity, and delicious results.
  4. Storing can get sticky. Like...literally. You should layer it in the container with parchment paper or aluminum foil so that the momos don't stick to each other. Don't forget to take the foil out before microwaving it. I don't want your microwave exploding.

Momo - Nepali Dumpling

Makes about 60 momos, serves 6 at 10 momos each.
Prep-time: <10 minutes
Cook-Time: ~1.5 hours


Ingredients


  1. Protein
    1. 1 lb turkey (or another meat of your choice)
  2. Carbohydrates
    1. Wanton wraps--small.
  3. Veggies
    1. Coleslaw mix - 8 oz
    2. Garlic - 4 cloves, minced
    3. Onion - 1 medium, diced
    4. Small tomato, diced
    5. Chopped fresh cilantro - 1/4 cup
  4. Spices and oils
    1. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
    2. 1 tablespoon cumin
    3. 1 teaspoon turmeric
    4. 1 tablespoon coriander
    5. 1 tablespoon olive oil 
    6. Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Start boiling water in a steamer.
  2. While boiling water in steamer, mix together turkey, onion, garlic, small tomato, cumin seeds, cumin, turmeric, coriander, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
  3. Place a wonton on a clean surface and brush water on it.
  4. Add one teaspoon of the mixture in the center. Fold bottom and top edges. Fold left and right. Then fold the corners. 
  5. Place the momos on the steamer. 
  6. Steam for 15 minutes. The momos should appear translucent.
  7. Serve with momo sauce or ketchup (momo sauce recommended)

Momo Sauce - Necessary Side to Momos

Ingredients

  1. Veggies
    1. 1 can peeled whole tomatoes (28 oz)
    2. Garlic - 2 cloves
    3. Onion - 1 small, diced
    4. Cilantro, chopped - 1/4 cup
  2. Spices and oils
    1. 1 teaspoon olive oil
    2. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
    3. 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
    4. 1 teaspoon coriander
    5. 1 teaspoon cumin
    6. Salt and pepper to taste
    7. Serrano pepper (optional)
    8. Cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions

  1. Heat teaspoon over medium 
  2. Add cumin seeds and turmeric powder and seer for a few seconds
  3. Add onions and garlic and saute for 5-8 minutes
  4. Add tomatoes and bring it to boil
  5. Add cumin, coriander, salt and pepper and simmer for 30 minutes
  6. Add cilantro and put everything in a blender
  7. Puree the mixture.
  8. Serve with momo

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Homemade Pizza!

-
Image
Pizza is probably the most popular food in America. Who knew it was so easy to make?? I found this recipe and it is super  easy to make! The toppings are whatever you want, and it takes less than a half hour to prepare! A and I make this whenever we have leftover ingredients from other recipes. It's a delicious way to use the other half of the tomatoes you don't use for your last recipe. Gather ingredients. First, you take the package of active yeast and put it in warm water with a teaspoon of sugar. This causes an activation of the yeast. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. Preheat your oven to 450°F after this. After about 10 minutes, add yeast solution to flour, salt, olive oil, and mix together. Let sit for 5 minutes. After about 5 minutes, put the flour mixture onto a surface that has dry flour on it and using a rolling pin, make the dough flat. Transfer to a pizza stone or a lightly greased pizza pan. Put tomato sauce on the dough and in a circular man...
Read more