Nath Aunty's Assamese Momo Dumplings

My friend Debangini's mum makes these really nice momos. Momos are Tibetan, Nepalese and North East Indian dumplings, very similar to a steamed gyoza but more rustic in nature. You'll find these dumplings sold on the corner of every busy shopping street in New Delhi. They are the original oriental Indian street snack. Although I love street side momo joints, sometimes I doubt the quality (or the variety) of the meat and the sanitary standards of the momo chef. And yes, maybe living in UK has made me really take notice of the difference in the quality of street food in New Delhi and that of the UK and so now, when my father gets home those famous momos from the Hauz Khas Market street side momo vendor, I double check for bones that may not necessary be of the poultry kind even though I know that no such bones will exist because these Hauz Khas momos are always great and delicious. 

Anyway, Nath Aunty is a doll! She knows that I love her momos and she was kind enough to make them this time when I went over to visit Debangini.

Two components-the skin and the filling- make up momos and if you get either of them wrong, you will end up with momos that either have too hard a shell or have very dry filling...or both. 

The thing to remember is, as I've stated earlier, that they are more of a rustic dumpling. Unlike wanton dumplings, the skin of the momo dumpling need not be very thin. 3 millimetres is the ideal thickness of a momo skin. 

Recipe

To make 40 dumplings, mix 300 grams of flour, half teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of oil and enough water to form a knead-able dough. Knead the dough for 30 seconds and then divide into 40 equal parts. You could also eyeball each part by allowing a small fist full of dough for each of the 40 momos. 

Add 500 grams of minced meat (chicken, pork or lamb), a finely diced onion, two bay leaves, pepper and an inch of crushed ginger in a saucepan with just enough water to submerge all the above ingredients. Boil the meat till cooked and then drain through a sieve (keep the sieved liquid to make a Tibetan Thukpa soup- A usual accompaniment to momos.) and cool the meat in a separate bowl. Then, before adding the filling onto the skin, add in 4 finely sliced small onions (or 2 large onions), a finely diced green chilli, three tablespoons of soya sauce and mix well for the soya sauce to thoroughly combine with the filling. 

Making the momo

Making the momo skin isn't so difficult. Just roll 1/40th of the dough and flatter it into a round, circular shape of 3 mm thickness and 5 inch width. 

Place one tablespoon of filling onto the centre of the skin

and fold it into any shape you want. If you can't make your momos into fancy shapes like the street momo vendors do, no fret! Just fold it into semi moons and pinch the open sides  together so that the filling is completely enclosed inside the skin and there are no open edges left.. Or you could do something like this: 

To make this type of a  design, first fold the dumpling into a semi moon and then pinch and fold around the curved edge of the semi moon, from one side to the other.

Steaming the dumplings

Bring water to boil in a steamer and place the dumplings on the steamer surface. It is very important to ensure that the steamer surface is oiled prior to placing the dumplings to ensure that the dumplings do not stick to the surface of the streamer or you could rub a bit of oil on the bottom of each dumpling prior to placing it in for steaming. 

As the meat in this recipe is cooked beforehand, steam the dumplings for about 5 minutes or until the shells are fully cooked. 

Spicy chilli momo sauce

Tibetan momos usually come with a spicy chilli sauce. At times, this sauce is so hot that it will blow the head off a regular chilli-eater Indian! But, it is THE authentic accompanying sauce and so, the following is the recipe for the Momo Sauce.

Add 2 dried red chillies and a tablespoon of seedless tamarind into 1/4th cup of just boiled hot water and cover for 3 hours to rehydrate the chillies. In a food processor, blend this mixture with 4 cloves of garlic, one tomato (cut into cubes) and salt and sugar to taste. If you feel that you require more water to thin out the sauce, add some, a teaspoon at a time till you get the right consistency and taste.

Alternatively, at home, we eat momos with soya sauce an LaYu, which is a Japanese chilli oil. Both sauces taste great with these momos. 

Enjoy!