The Lonely Planet describes momos as 'Nepal's unofficial delicacy' and, having tried them before, the steamed dumplings are very good. After talking about them a little with the girls they agreed to show us the process of making them. Little did we know what we were letting ourselves in for.
After purchasing the ingredients we started with the chopping. We started at about 3pm with three of the girls chopping vegetables and I was peeling garlic. Everything has to be chopped very finely for momos as it is more like a paste in the middle of the dumpling than chunks of vegetables. At home this is fairly easy as you can just put everything in a food processor. Here, everything has to be done by hand.
So, after much chopping we were ready to start assembling the vegetable momos. The chopped vegetables, garlic, ginger, spices and salt was all mixed together and then placed in the prepared dough. A relatively simple process that required a few stages - one person rolling the dough and then one person adding the filling. It sounds simple but each momo is 5cm big this had to be repeated many times. To speed up the process we had a each person working on one stage and it was a good effort of teamwork!
Even once the momos were prepared they take 45mins to steam until ready and so once the first round of momos were finished we were all getting quite peckish. And we hadn't even started on the chicken momos.
While we had been chopping the boys had been sent out to get the chicken and I don't think Josh was really prepared for what he had let himself in for. Electricity here is sketchy at best and few people can afford fridges anyway and therefore there is only one way to keep meat fresh - alive. When you go out to buy a chicken you buy a chicken that is still clucking and they kill it there in front of you and then chop it up for you. I wasn't aware of this and Josh certainly wasn't. He's now debating vegetarianism.
Once the chicken had been brought back it also had to be chopped into very fine pieces, and I was quite glad to be part of the momo making factory at this point. Once chopped it was added to what was left of the vegetable mixture and then the momo making started again.
Eventually all the momos were made and the mixture used up and we waited for the last of the momos to be steamed. By this point it was almost 8pm and it was a very hot evening! The momos were very good but I have to admit I'm not keen to make them again whilst in Nepal! It was a very long process that does produce delicious food but shows how different our attitudes to cooking are. It is difficult to persuade many people in England to cook a proper meal, let alone spend the whole afternoon cooking one!
After purchasing the ingredients we started with the chopping. We started at about 3pm with three of the girls chopping vegetables and I was peeling garlic. Everything has to be chopped very finely for momos as it is more like a paste in the middle of the dumpling than chunks of vegetables. At home this is fairly easy as you can just put everything in a food processor. Here, everything has to be done by hand.
So, after much chopping we were ready to start assembling the vegetable momos. The chopped vegetables, garlic, ginger, spices and salt was all mixed together and then placed in the prepared dough. A relatively simple process that required a few stages - one person rolling the dough and then one person adding the filling. It sounds simple but each momo is 5cm big this had to be repeated many times. To speed up the process we had a each person working on one stage and it was a good effort of teamwork!
Even once the momos were prepared they take 45mins to steam until ready and so once the first round of momos were finished we were all getting quite peckish. And we hadn't even started on the chicken momos.
While we had been chopping the boys had been sent out to get the chicken and I don't think Josh was really prepared for what he had let himself in for. Electricity here is sketchy at best and few people can afford fridges anyway and therefore there is only one way to keep meat fresh - alive. When you go out to buy a chicken you buy a chicken that is still clucking and they kill it there in front of you and then chop it up for you. I wasn't aware of this and Josh certainly wasn't. He's now debating vegetarianism.
Once the chicken had been brought back it also had to be chopped into very fine pieces, and I was quite glad to be part of the momo making factory at this point. Once chopped it was added to what was left of the vegetable mixture and then the momo making started again.
Eventually all the momos were made and the mixture used up and we waited for the last of the momos to be steamed. By this point it was almost 8pm and it was a very hot evening! The momos were very good but I have to admit I'm not keen to make them again whilst in Nepal! It was a very long process that does produce delicious food but shows how different our attitudes to cooking are. It is difficult to persuade many people in England to cook a proper meal, let alone spend the whole afternoon cooking one!
I would like some when you come home, please! They sound good xxx
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