In the Northwestern corner of West Bengal, jammed up against the foothills of the Himalayas, is Darjeeling, where all the tea comes from. It’s a beautiful temperate region (imagine a broad vista of lush tea paddies with misty mountains crowding along the horizon) which shares a border and population with Nepal.
This is where my mother’s family originated, and on their various global jaunts over the years they’ve spread the charms of the traditional Nepalese dish, Momo. Historically made with, erm, Yak meat, Momo is a kind of steamed dumpling to be enjoyed on chilly mountain evenings when the snow is piling up outside your door and rogue Yetis are dancing on your roof and lobbing snowballs at your windows.
Yak content not compulsory, I’m happy to say.
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups regular white flour
1 cup water
A pinch of salt
300g Quorn/Soy mince (or 250g beef/chicken mince)
*[only if using vegetarian mince:
2 teaspoons of vegetarian gravy granules
Half a teaspoon of cornflour
Half a cup of hot water]
1 large onion, diced
2 tomatoes, chopped as finely as possible
2 teaspoons of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
2 teaspoons of coriander
3 red chilli peppers, chopped finely
3 or 4 scrapes of butter
DO IT
1. Mix the flour, water and salt together in a bowl, and then knead with your hands for around 6 minutes or until it forms a pizza dough-like consistency. Cover the bowl and put to one side.
2. Place the onion, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, coriander and chilli peppers in a large bowl with the butter and mix together with a wooden spoon until it forms a paste.
3. Add the mince and mix in.
*If using vegetarian mince, make up some thick gravy using the hot water, granules and cornflour and add this to the mixture to thicken it up a little.
4. Mix all these ingredients together until the vegetables and spices have been worked into the mince. Season with salt and pepper, cover, and place in the fridge for an hour.
5. After an hour, dust a wooden board and rolling pin with flour and give the dough another brief knead. Break off into individual small balls and roll each out into thinnish, tea-plate size circles.
6. Take the mince mixture from the fridge and spoon a little onto one half of each circle (a level tablespoon and a half should do it) so that one half of the circle has mixture almost covering it, and one doesn’t.
7. Next, fold the free half over the half with mixture to make a semi-circular dumpling, and make sure you pinch and twist the ends, so they look crimped and pleated like the ends of a pasty.
8. Once these are all done place in a steamer for 30 minutes. If you don’t have a steamer, place them (using a slotted spoon) into a saucepan of boiling water and simmer for around 30 minutes.
Alternatively, boil or steam the dumplings for 12 minutes and then transfer to a hot, oiled frying pan and sear each side for 6 minutes.
Serve with bowls of clear soup and chilli sauce for dipping.
