Momos or the dimsums are steamed buns with or without fillings.The fillings can be anything of your choice.It is prepared with virtually any combination of ground meat, vegetables, tofu,cottage cheese, vegetable and meat combinations.Personally,I love its chicken combination the most.The best part of momos is that you can have them personalised,steamed or fried or tandoori momos .I have even tried by boiling them and replacing all purpose flour by wheat flour.Especially in winters,I collect all the let over raw veggies – cabbage,carrots,peas,bell peppers and french beans to make healthy vegetable momos. They are super delicious in all ways.When it comes to dip,I love them serving with tangy coriander chutney and hot tomato chilli dip. Goshh,who discovered this heavenly combination.
So now,let me show you my style of making steamed chicken momos.
Ingredients for momos:
For the dough:
All-purpose flour 2 cups
Water 1/2 cup
Salt (to taste)
Oil(to grease) 1/2 teaspoon
For the filling:
Chicken Breast(boneless) 250gm or 2 large pieces
Carrot(shredded) 1/2 cup
Green capsicum(shredded) 1/4 cup
French beans(finely chopped) 1/4 cup
Onions(finely chopped) 1/2 cup
Ginger(grated) 1 tablespoon
Ginger-garlic paste 1/2 tablespoon
Salt(to taste)
Oil (to saute) 1 tablespoon
Hot red chilli dip:
Ingredients:
Dry red chilli 5-6
Tomato 2
Salt(to taste)
Soak the dry red chilli in water for 3-4 hours.Further,take a pan and boil water.Add the red chillies and 2 tomatoes to boil.Make a cross on the bottom of tomatoes with the knife so that it becomes easier to remove the tomato skin after boiling.After 5 minutes of boiling,drain them.Remove the stems and deseed the chillies.This will reduce the hotness of the red chillies.In a mixer jar,blend the tomatoes,red chillies and salt.The super hot red chilli dip is ready.You can also add a pod of garlic while blending,its optional.
Coriander Chutney (click on this link to view the recipe)
Procedure for momos:
First,get your steamer ready.I have used a normal pressure cooker as a steamer.Add 4 cups of water and put on the heat.The quantity of the water should be such that it doesn’t touch the momos. Let it steam for 5-10 minutes.Take any thin plate that has small holes through which the steam can pass.I had a thin plate of a rice cooker that fits well on the top of pressure cooker.Grease the plate with oil so that the momos don’t stick on the plates.
Preparing the filling
I had 2 large pieces of chicken breast.So,I boiled water in a pan with a pinch of salt and added the chicken breasts.After 20 minutes of boil or when the colour of the chicken,remove the chicken.Let it cool a bit and mince them with a knife.As they get so soft and tender after boiling,it becomes very easy to mince them.You can use the stock for other cooking purposes or prepare soup out of it.
On the other side,heat up a wok and add 1 tablespoon of oil.Add chopped onions and saute it for a couple of minutes.Then add rest of the veggies,shredded ginger,ginger-garlic paste and chopped chicken and saute them for 5-7 minutes.Add salt and crushed black pepper.The filling is ready.
Shaping the momos
Divide the dough into small balls.Using a rolling pin,roll them into a thin circle of 3 inch diameter.Make the centre to be a bit thick and circumference to be thin.Place 1 or 2 tsp of the filling in the centre.
Lift from one end and start pleating.You can pleat them in any form you want.You can simply pleat from one end to other and leave them or you can join the pleated end to form a circular momo.
Once the momos are shaped,place them on the thin greased plate with holes.Cover the plate and let them steam for 6-8 minutes.As I have already cooked the filling well,we dont need to steam much.The timely also depends from the intensity of heat and type of vessel used as steamer.
Once cooked,garnish it with spring onions and serve hot with your favourite dips.
The joy of taste and sensation at a place where creativity has no boundaries 