Preparing Momos At Home - New Normal

By Author: Gayatri Tampi
Total Articles: 56
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Strolling down the memory lane, momos hit the jackpot in 2021, by escalating to the 1 crore mark on Zomato. While people ordered spicy street food via online applications, there were a kingdom of people who consumed home-cooked readymade momos within the comfort of their homes. Since the pandemic, a lot of people have been hesitant to step out of their four-walled rooms, in turn, leading to a massive dip in street food huts. People have been sharing mixed recipes and connecting with their near and dear via video calls.
To make you feel and be at home, below are a list of recipes to make momos at home, which you wouldn’t regret:
1. Let us begin with the momo dough
All you need to have –
a) All-purpose flour – 1 cup
b) Salt – ¼ teaspoon
c) Oil – ½ teaspoon
Mix them well. While you are in for a mix, add about 2-3 tablespoons of water and knead it to prepare a firm dough.
Warning: Fail to make the dough soft, as it would make it difficult to shape them. If you feel there is a requirement of additional water, feel ...
... free to add 1-2 tablespoons.
Your next step would revolve around wrapping/ covering the dough with a kitchen towel or napkin. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
2. Stuffing
All you need to have –
a) Capsicum
b) Button mushrooms
c) Spring onions
d) Cabbage
e) French beans
If you own a food processor, voila, you are sorted. Make sure to fill 1.5-1.75 cups of these finely chopped greens. Now, to prepare the stuffing, take a pan and heat the oil. Drop in ½ teaspoon garlic and sauté it for 3 seconds on medium-low heat.
Add scallions and sauté for 15 seconds on the same level. Finally, add in the veggies. By this time, you will have to enhance the intensity of the flame and stir fry the veggies. After about 2-3 minutes, add ½ teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon soy sauce and salt for taste. Continue to fry for 3 minutes and take the heat off the board. Your final touch to the stuffing would be to add spring onions and stir. Being an Indian, finger-testing food before serving is a habit that we never tend to leave.
Once you feel the stuffing is ready, let it cool.
3. Shape ‘em up
By now, the dough would have turned firm. Play the game of division and separate into two. With a knife, turn the dough into a 7–8-inch log. Further, cut them into equal pieces and shape them into balls. This could be a fun activity to perform with your kid, almost like play dough.
Keep them covered with the napkin. After, take each dough ball and a rolling pin, to roll them into a thin circle (3-4 inches long).
Tip: Keep the centre thick and edges to be thin. You can also rub your finger on the circumference of the circles rolled out, as per your choice.
Now, lets put 2 & 2 together and add 2-3 teaspoons of the stuffing in the centre. To make it look like a momo, lift the edges to form a perfect pleat.
4. An alternative to shaping
If you aren’t able to pleat the momos, we’ll provide you with a simple technique, rather hack. Join the edges of the circle and shape them up like a ‘gujiya’ or ‘karanji.’ Make the ends meet and join. Prepare them altogether and get it ready for a steam.
5. Holy steams!
Take a pan and grease it with oil. Place each momo in the pan, leaving enough space for them to breathe. If you are an idli lover, you’ll definitely have these pans in hand. Now to proceed, add 2 cups of water, while you steam momos. After another 5-6 minutes, once you notice that the dough is transparent, don’t overcook and pull them out.
Serve them with the classic momo chutney. You can accommodate this recipe for guests/ your family. Instead of stepping out, hasn’t this recipe been an optimal solution?
Hold on. If we have shared a veg momo recipe with you, we need to share the sauce too.
All you need to have –
a) Dry red chilli – 10
b) Tomato – 3
c) Virgin olive oil – 3 teaspoons
d) Salt
e) Black pepper
f) Sugar – 3 teaspoons
g) Garlic – 10 cloves
Similar to how South Indians boil tomatoes for a few hours before preparing ‘rasam,’ here, we need to soak red chillies for 2 hours instead. Add tomatoes, after you give the water a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Once the tomatoes are almost peeling off and soft, remove the skin. Take a blender and chop them with soaked chillies. Blend them well to make a paste and drop in the garlic.
You need to keep blending, until you don’t achieve a semi-thick consistency. Don’t make it too runny/ too thick and it is ready to go.
The veg momo recipe can also be incorporated for a non-veg recipe, just add the chicken. Give this a read before you think of making them for your family the next time!