Momo (Nepali Dumplings) Recipe

This is the most popular dish in Nepal. Might I dare to say, it’s a national food of Nepal. Nepali dumplings are unique in its own way. It’s more spicier with juicy filling of ground buffalo meat. It’s served with a spicy tomato achar (sauce). There are few types of tomato achar that is served with momos. In my last post, I shared a recipe of a jhol achar, which is most common in Kathmandu. Or you can make a simple tomato achar (Golveda ko achar) that I’ve posted few months earlier in my blog.

It’s also served with a side dish of chicken soup broth made with chicken bones.

You can rarely find a Nepalese who doesn’t like momos. As one of my Instagram friend said (quote) ‘it’s stamped in our DNA and I cannot agree more.’ (Do check my Instagram @mrsgrg2014 to explore Food gallery and videos).

We eat momos almost every week, be it family gathering or just a snack or dinner. It’s easier to make if you use premade store bought wrappers or skin. It can be found in Asian grocery stores.

However, I prefer home made wrappers. It’s bit time consuming and need a bit more labour but the end result is worth the time and effort.

If you are trying you hands on making momos for the very first time, I suggest use premade wonton skin. As there are lot of elements required to make momos, you just don’t want to be too overwhelmed. However, if you choose to make your own wrappers, make it a family affair and get everyone involved.

Here’s my recipe for Momos. I made this for my family gathering. This recipe yields about 120 momos with homemade wrapper. Please reduce the quantity of spices and other ingredients in half or quarter to suit your need. Also you can tone it the spicier as per your liking.

If you end up with too many momos, don’t worry. You can always freeze them, it lasts for a month. When cooking frozen momos, don’t defrost it. Put it straight in the steamer on top of boiling water and steam for 15 minutes. You can enjoy steaming hot momos in no time.

Ingredients (Yields 120 medium sized momos)

For Wrappers or Skin
1 and half kilos of plain white flour
1 litre of Water (adjust water quantity as required)

Sift flour into a big bowl. Make a well in the centre and add water. You can use fork or fingertips to slowly mix flour with water. When it all comes together, get your hands into it. Mix and until it all comes together and knead it into a smooth dough.

Tips: If dough is not coming together and very flaky, add more water little bit at a time, until it knead into a ball. If the dough is too watery of soft, add bit more flour to make it a soft but firm dough. When dough is ready, it should leave the side of your bowl and hands too.

Cover the bowl with a wet towel or a cling wrap and set aside. This helps to soften the dough and making it flexible and elastic to work with. Leave it for at least half an hour or more. Do not let the dough dry out, or it will be hard to work with.

For Meat Filling

2 kilos of chicken mince (use beef or pork or buffalo meat as per your preference)
1 bunch of chives finely chopped (or you can substitute with few sprigs of spring onion or scallion)
1/2 of medium sized onion finely chopped
1/2 cup of chopped coriander (cilantro)
2 tablespoons of ginger paste
2 tablespoons of garlic paste
1 tablespoon of shallot paste (optional)
2 tablespoons of cumin powder
1 tablespoons of coriander powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
1 tablespoon of garam masala powder
Chilli powder as per your taste
Salt as per your taste
200 ml of Water
1/2 cup of mustard oil (or vegetable oil)

Put meat in a large bowl, add all the ingredients, spices, water and oil and mix well with mince meat. Set aside.
Note: You can add finely chopped cabbage to the mix to make it more juicier if you are using lean chicken mince.

Making Momo Wrapper

Take a handful of dough and roll it into a ball. Dust the flat and dry (clean) kitchen bench with flour. Place the ball on the surface and flatten it with a rolling pin. Roll it out quite thinly.

When it’s as thin as desired, get a round shape cutter and cut out as many as you can.

Repeat the same process to make as many wrappers as required.

Shaping Momos

Here comes a tricky bit. There are few shapes you can make.

For round shape momos: place a spoonful of mince mix in the centre of the wrapper. Hold the wrapper on your left hand . Pinch one side of the wrapper for first crease with your right thumb and index finger. Then just pinch and stick second crease with your index finger. Continue pinching around the circle little by little, keeping your thumb in place, and continuing along the edge of the circle with your index finger. When you come a full circle, stick the end together to seal the momo.

Oh how I wish I could load the video. So much easier to show a demo. However, I’ve seen a video floating around showing how to shape dumplings. If this is your first time making momos, please do check out the video. Here’s the photo of wrapped momos.

The hard part is over. Now this is a easy.

Steaming Momos

In a momo steamer, boil water on the bottom pot. Grease the top container (one with small holes) with oil. Place the momos until the container is full ensuring momos are not touching each other.

Place this container on top of the boiling pot and cover with lid. Steam it for 10-12 minutes on a medium heat.

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Serve hot with a jhol achar or tomato achar.

Please do try it. It’s best served hot on cold winter days. Happy Cooking.

Jamie Oliver’s Morrocon Style Lamb Burger

I have been craving for a good, juicy burger for a while. As I don’t eat beef, it’s difficult to find a place where I can get a yummy and juicy burger to satiate my cravings.

When I came across this recipe, I was super excited as I love Jamie Oliver and his recipes.

I was going to make this burger for my Christmas bbq that I organise every year but I dropped the idea thinking it will be too time consuming. I was so wrong. This recipe is so easy and quick to make. I was bit skeptical about using yogurt sauce, but it turned out amazing. The only thing I will do differently is not add lemon juice to yogurt sauce. As yogurt is already tangy and sour, the lemon juice made it tangier. However, the combination of Moroccan spice rub on lamb and the mint salad is amazing.

I didn’t have any pomegranate and edible flowers so I didn’t use it. Also as the original recipe said Zaatar powder, I added thyme and sumac powder instead which are the main spices that make Zaatar mix.

Here’s my take on Jamie Oliver’s Moroccan Style Lamb Burger.

Ingredients (serves 3)

750 grams of Lamb mince

3 burger buns
3 tablespoons of plain yogurt
1 tablespoon of Harissa paste
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice

Spice Rub
1 teaspoon black peppercorns whole
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 garam masala
2 sweet smoked paprika
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon sumac powder
Salt as per taste

Salad mix
1/2 shredded iceberg lettuce
Handful of fresh mint, leaves picked
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil

In mortar and pestle, pound the spice rub to make a coarse powder. Set aside.

Take the lamb mince and divide into 3 equal balls. Roll the mince patties to smoothen it. Then flatten it into 2 cm thick patties. As I wanted to make it a big, juicy burger, I made 3 patties of approximately 250 grams mince. Lay out a grease proof baking paper (or a tray) on a kitchen bench. Put the patties on the paper and pat it with the spice rub ensuring both sides are covered. Set aside.

For the sauce, in a bowl add yogurt and mix Harissa paste, lemon juice and olive oil. Set aside.

Heat the grill pan on a medium heat. When hot, spray with olive oil. Add lamb patties. Cook on your barbecue or in a griddle pan for 6 to 7 minutes each side ( came out medium) or until done to your liking.

To assemble burger, lightly toast the buns. On the bottom bun, put the grilled patty.Add mint salad on top of the patty. Spread some yogurt sauce on the crown and cap it off on top of lettuce. I served it with some homemade hot chips. Enjoy

Jhol Momo Soup Recipe

Jhol momo is very famous and much loved steamed Nepali dumplings served with jhol achar (soup). It is an easy find in any restaurants and street hawkers in Kathmandu. The jhol achar is in house specialty of momos that you get in Kathmandu.

As I was born and raised in Kathmandu, I grew up eating momos for khaja (afternoon tea) almost everyday. These momos came swimming in a liquid (tomato soup) laced with powdered soya or sesame. This is perfect accompaniment for momos as this soup enhances the meatiness of the dumplings and also gives it a nice kick of chilli and tanginess. Depending on the kind of eateries, the taste and consistency varies. It was not always the healthy choice if you buy it from local eatery as they normally use lot of fat in the mince meat, but it sure was very tasty.

Every now and then I crave for this authentic taste of jhol momos. I make momos at all the time, be it for dinner, or for family get together, momos always gets a nod. I’ve been trying to recreate this jhol momos for a while now. I’ve tried few combinations of spice and consistency, it’s been a hit and a miss. But the recipe of the jhol (soup), I’m about to share comes very close to the authentic taste. When I tasted it, it took me straight back to those steaming stalls of Kathmandu street.

I will be posting recipe for momos very soon. Here’s my take on the jhol achar for momos

Ingredients

5 medium tomatoes (grilled or roasted)
Half onion finely chopped
4 cloves
2 green cardamom
1 black cardamom
1 cinnamon stick
4 bay leaves
1 tablespoon of garlic and ginger paste
Chillies as per your taste
2 tablespoon of oil
Salt as per taste
3 tablespoon of sesame (roast sesame with 2 dry chillies and 3-4 szehuwan peppercorns and grounded into a powder)
1 litre of chicken stock (or soup made from bone)

In a pot, heat oil and fry onion until soft and has slight colour. Add cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and let it infuse with sautéed onion for a minute.

Add garlic/ginger paste, turmeric powder, salt and chilli powder. Fry it for a minute or two, till oil seperates.

Add roasted tomatoes and cook until for 5-7 minutes by covering the pot.

When tomatoes are soft and mushy, add chicken stock and bring it to the boil. Turn the heat to low and let it simmer on a gentle heat for 10 minutes ensuring the liquid doesn’t reduce.

After 10 minutes turn off the heat. Let it cool.

When the soup is cool, take bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom out of the soup. Pour the soup in a blender and add sesame. Blitz it until it’s creamy and fine.

Serve it with steaming hot momos. Enjoy.

Black Eyed Pea Soup

Black Eyed Pea is one of the most nutritious and potent beans with high content of calcium, and also iron and protein. This soup is a good comfort food for cold winter days.

I made this soup for my hubby as he’s been down with cold and flu for past few days. He doesn’t get sick very often but this cold and flu really knocked him down. I wanted to make him feel better so I made all these dishes to help him bounce back to health.

I’m big on home made remedial concoctions to heal and cure ailments as I grew up using these remedies.

For this black eyed soup, I used lot of carom/thyme seeds (jwano) as these are believed to be good cure for cold and flu. My mother used to make this concoction of carom/thyme seeds with lots of ginger, salt and turmeric to relieve us whenever we had cold and flu.

The black eyed soup is very delicious, yet nourishing too.

If you are feeling under the weather or just need something to nourish yourself, please try this recipe.

Ingredients

350 grams of Black eyed peas (soak it overnight or if not soaked, required to cook longer)
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
100 grams of bacon
3 tablespoon of carom/thyme seeds
2-3 bay leaves
1 large tomato cut into cubes
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
2 teaspoons of cumin powder
Fresh Garlic and Ginger paste (4-5 garlic cloves and thumb sized piece of ginger. Pound it in mortar pestle to make a paste)
1 litre of chicken stock (or water)
Salt as per taste
2 tablespoons of oil

In a pot, heat oil and pop carom/thyme seeds. Add chopped onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes until it softens. Add bacon and sauté it until golden brown.

Add salt, cumin powder, turmeric powder, bay leaves and garlic ginger paste.

Cook for spices for 1 minutes and add tomatoes. Mix well and cook tomatoes until soft.

Add black eyed peas and liquid into the pot. Stir it and cover it with lid. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until black eyed peas are soft and mushy but still holds its shape.

Serve hot soup with a rustic bread or on its own with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt.

Vegan Chickpeas and Sweet Potato Curry

This is the first time ever, I made this curry. Actually I created this recipe with throwing ingredients together after rummaging my brain and pantry to make something out of nothing. I wasn’t too sure about the combination of sweet potato, chickpeas and mushroom but the result astounded me. It turned out fantastic. I was ecstatic.

My hubby always says that I prepare best and exquisite meals when I put together whatever is available in the fridge and pantry. I guess, I just love the challenge of preparing a meal that everyone will love with limited resources.

I should document these crisis creations as I face these situation more often than I would like being a busy mom.

This curry is full of flavour. It has a big hit of chilli, thick and rich gravy, balance of spice, earthiness, sweetness and also packed a punch with hint of lemon juice.

Without further ado, I’m very excited to share this recipe. I hope you will love it as much as I enjoyed it,

Ingredients

4 tablespoons of oil
1 medium size onion finely sliced
1-2 green cardamom pods
1-2 cloves
A small sprig of cinnamon
2 medium size tomatoes cubed
5 green chillies sliced in half (or adjust per your liking)
1 sweet potato (peeled and cubed)
1 can of chickpeas (400g)
750ml of water or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 bay leaves
A handful of dried tea-tree mushroom (soak it in hot water for 10 minutes to rehydrate it)
4 cloves of chopped garlic
A small piece of chopped ginger
Salt as per taste
Lemon juice (half lemon squeezed)

In a pan, heat oil and add cinnamon, cloves and cardamom and toss it for few seconds to release its aroma. Fry onion until golden brown on a medium heat.

Add chillies, tomatoes and cubed sweet potatoes cook it for 5 minutes until tomato and potato softens.

Add chickpeas and all dry spices (cumin, turmeric, coriander, curry powder, garam masala powder, chilli powder) and salt and cook it for few minutes to cook rawness of the spices.

Add bay leaves and add liquid. Cover the pot with a lid and cook it for 5 minutes until the liquid comes to boil.

Add tea-tree mushroom and cook it in a gentle simmer for 15 minutes until the gravy thickens and chickpeas and potatoes are soft.

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Add lemon juice and stir it. Serve it with bowl of rice or rotis. Enjoy.

Note: For non vegetarians, substitute water with chicken or beef stock and add a chicken stock cube to make it meatier.

Red Hot Chicken Curry

It’s been a while since my last post. I’ve been busy with festivities (Dashain and Tihar), family and work being priorities during this time.

I’m back and hoping to share more of my culinary experiences.

I made this lovely, spicy, hot and rich curry few weeks ago. It’s a one pot wonder with spuds, mushroom and chicken. It is one of those comfort food for me. The rich, hot and thick gravy makes me warm and gives me foodcoma as I can’t resist 2nd and 3rd helpings with steam rice.

Here’s a recipe for you to warm up your cold nights .

Ingredients

1.5 kilos of whole chicken cut into pieces (with bones, skin and all)
2 medium sized onion finely sliced
2 large tomatoes cut into cubes
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
4-5 small sized whole potatoes
4-5 brown mushroom cut into quarters
5 cloves of garlic
A knob of ginger (thumb sized piece)
5 red chillies
1 quill of cinnamon
3-4 black cloves
3-4 cloves
1 tablespoon of Chilli powder
1 tablespoon of cumin powder
1 tablespoon of coriander powder
1 tablespoon of garam masala
500 ml of chicken stock (or water)
Salt to taste
4-5 tablespoons of oil
Fresh coriander for garnish

Method:
Divide chicken pieces into 2-3 batches. Heat oil in the pan and add first batch of chicken pieces to seal and sear it. Fry it for 4-5 minutes turning it once. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Repeat the same process for other batches and set aside.

In the same pan, add sliced onion and fry it until golden brown.

Add whole spices and fry it for few minutes. Then add all other spices, salt, fresh chillies and garlic ginger paste. Mix it well and fry it for few minutes in a gentle heat.

Add tomato and tomato paste and cook it for 3-5 minutes until tomato disintegrates and become thick and mushy.

Add chicken pieces, potatoes and mushroom. Stir well to mix with spices and tomato. Cook for 4-5 minutes.

Add 500 ml of chicken stock or plain water and cover the pan with lid.

Cook it for 20-25 minutes on low heat until chicken is tender and gravy is thick.

Garnish with coriander and serve with steam rice or rotis. It’s a comfort food best enjoyed on cold days.

Jerk Chicken (Jamie Oliver’s Recipe)

I love Jamie Oliver and his recipes. He has always been my culinary inspiration. I love watching him cook food with so much passion, ease and love. Lately I’m watching his new series “Comfort Food” and loving it. This recipe is not part of that series though,

I had loads of chicken drumsticks in the fridge which I wanted to cook in a different way that would tingle my tastebuds. I found this recipe online and thought I would give it a go. I’m a sucker for hot food and also wanted to try allspice berries. I’ve heard of Jamaican Jerk Chicken but never tried it before. So I was pretty excited to try it. There were few different recipes for Jerk Chicken but I settled for this one.

It was superyum. I will definitely make this dish again with an authentic recipe as I loved the heat and the spiciness of this dish.

Ingredients
8 Chicken drumsticks
2 tablespoons of allspice berries powder
2 tablespoons of chilli flakes
10-12 black peppercorns
1 teaspoon of raw sugar
2 tablespoons of honey
4 jalapeños chillies
Few sprigs of fresh flat parsley
1 sprig of spring onion or scallion
Few sprigs of coriander
4 cloves of garlic
A thumb sized piece of ginger
1/2 lime
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons of oil

For Flatbread
250 grams self-raising Flour
250 grams yoghurt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 jalapeño chilli, finely sliced

In a mortar and pestle (or blender) pound garlic, ginger, peppercorns and chillies to make a fine paste. Add chopped parsley, coriander, spring and pound it well. Add allspice berries, chilli flakes, honey, sugar and oil and mix it well.

Wash chicken drumsticks and then Slit it in an angle with sharp knife as this will allow the spice rub to penetrate into drumsticks.
Put chicken drumsticks in a big bowl and add spice rub. Wear a food prepping latex gloves (as chillies are very hot and it burns your hand) and rub the spices thoroughly with drumsticks. Leave the marinated chicken for overnight or at least an hour before cooking.

Preheat oven at 200 degree celcius for 5 minutes. I used the grill and fan setting to grill chicken.
Lightly grease oven tray and add marinated chicken drumsticks. Put it in an oven any grill it 20-25 minutes turning it once after first 10 minutes.

For flatbread

Mix flour with baking powder and sift it in a bowl. Add yoghurt and start bringing it all together and knead to make it a fine and soft dough. Rest re dough for 10-15 minutes covered with a tea towel for it to become soft and elastic.

When ready to roll out the rotis, divide the dough into equal parts of 8 round balls.

On a flat surface, dust it with flour and take one ball of dough and roll it out to make round rotis about a centimeter thick. Stick it with sliced jalapeños.

In a hot non stick pan, toast the flatbread on one side and turn when you see tiny bumps. Press it gently as it will puff up the bread. Remove from heat when cooked.
Repeat the process for remaining balls of dough to make 8 flatbreads.

Serve Jerk Chicken drumsticks with drizzle of a fresh lime and flat breads in a platter.

Khasi ko Masu (Simple Goat Curry)

As the Dashain festival has begun, I want to share this goat curry recipe as it’s the main dish of Dashain festival food.

During this festival, people are busy with visiting temples, cooking feasts and get togethers with family and friend. So this is a perfect recipe as its is a no fuss, simple but flavorsome curry that you can make during Dashain festival.

So without further ado, here’s the recipe.

Ingredients

1 kilo of goat meat
2 medium sized onion finely sliced
4-5 curry leaves
5 whole cloves
5 whole cardamom
5 black peppercorns
1 stick of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of cumin powder
1/2 tablespoon of coriander powder
1 tablespoon of garam masala powder
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1 teaspoon of chilli powder
Garlic and ginger paste (Pound 5 cloves of garlic and knob of ginger)
Salt as per taste
2 tablespoon of oil
Fresh coriander and green chilli to garnish

For marinade
2 tablespoon of plain yoghurt
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

Cut goat meat into big chunky pieces (I usually ask butcher to cut it in curry sized pieces. Put cut pieces in a bowl and marinate meat with all the marinade ingredients. Leave it overnight in the fridge or at least an hour for flavors to infuse.

In a pot ( or pressure cooker), heat oil (in low heat) and add whole cloves, cardamom, peppercorns and cinnamon to infuse oil.

Add curry leaves and onion and fry it until it’s soft and golden brown.

When onion is golden brown, add garlic and ginger paste, tumeric, cumin, coriander, garam masala, chilli and salt. Cook the spices until it leaves the oil and becomes fragrant.

Add meat and mix well with the spices. Cover the pot and cook it for an hour on medium heat (if using pressure cooker, 20-25 minutes) until the meat is tender and falling off the bone.

Garnish with fresh coriander and chili and serve with a bowl of steam rice.

Piro Aloo Dum (Hot & Spicy Potato Curry)

Warning: This is a very hot potato curry.

I got this recipe from my bestie from primary school. She went to boarding school in Darjeeling after her primary schooling. This is where she found this dish and loved it. She promised me that she will make this cracking aloo dum for me one day as it’s her signature dish. But I never got to taste it because shortly after her return to Nepal, I moved to Australia.

Sometime ago, I reminded her that she still owes me piro aloo dum. So she sent me this recipe for me to try it.

I’ve made this few times. It’s so delicious and hot. It goes really well with puris (deep fried puffed breads).

Here’s my take on piro aloo dum.

Ingredients

10-12 small red chat potatoes 3 teaspoons of nigella seeds
3 teaspoons of lovage seeds
2 teaspoon of fennel seeds
2 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds
3 large tomatoes
10 dried red chillies (or as per your liking)
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
Salt to taste
3 tablespoons of oil

Boil whole potatoes, until soft and peel and cut them into quarters. Set aside.

Boil tomatoes and chillies in a pot, until tomatoes are mushy and soft.

When tomatoes have cooled down, blend tomatoes and chillies to make a thick purée. Set aside.

Heat oil in the pot and add all the seeds. When it starts to pop, add tomato purée, turmeric powder and salt. Cook the mixture for 2-3 minutes.

Add boiled and cubed potatoes and mix well with the gravy. Simmer it for 5-10 minutes on low heat so the potatoes soaks up the flavour.

Serve hot with puris or steam rice. Enjoy.

Sekuwa ( Lamb Skewers)

There’s something special about grilled meat especially grilled on charcoal.

Today I’m going to share this recipe which is eaten as appetiser or as a set with beaten rice( chuira or bhuja), spicy potato, soybeans, lemon wedge and slice of carrot and cucumber. It’s called sekuwa in Kathmandu but my hubby says it’s known as jhir on its own or as taas with the set.

You can find street hawkers fanning a charcoal grill with lines of these yummy skewers usually made with buffalo or goat meat. The right amount of fat and meat makes it a perfect sekuwa. The sight and smell is just so amazing. I used to buy it from the hawkers as my evening snack.

We make this dish during Dashain (biggest Nepali festival) along with other varieties of meat dishes. During this festival, most household have whole lot of meat in their kitchen as it’s a tradition to slaughter goats, ducks, sheeps and buffaloes for consumption by family and relatives during 10 days of celebration.

Over the next few weeks, I will try to make as many Dashain special recipes and share it.

Ingredients

1 kilo of lamb meat (fat included)
6 cloves of garlic
Knob of ginger
10 whole sichuan peppers
1 tablespoon of cumin powder
1 tablespoon of garam masala
1 teaspoon of red chilli powder
2 teaspoon of smoked paprika
4 tablespoon of plain yoghurt
2 tablespoon of oil (for marinating)
Salt as per taste
1 freshly squeezed lemon juice

Pound garlic, ginger and sichuan peppers in mortar and pestle to make a coarse paste. Mix diced lamb meat with garlic, ginger paste, dry spices, salt, yoghurt and oil. Leave it overnight or for 2-4 hours for meat to tenderize and flavors to develop.

Soak the skewers in water for few hours so it doesn’t burn.

Insert 4-5 cubes of marinated lamb per skewer.

Heat the grill pan (for best results, use charcoal grill). When hot, grilled lamb skewers for 7-8 minutes on each side or until it’s cooked per your liking.

Serve skewers hot with a squeeze of lemon with side salad or with set of chuira, spicy potato ( will post recipe soon). Enjoy.

Please do share your favourites holiday or festival food that you love to cook and eat.