Brief History (Click here to view original reference)
A country that has the highest mountain in the world in the Himalayas: Mount Everest. A country that is the birthplace of Siddharatha Buddha however, only 9%of the population is Buddhist, 81.3% Hindu and 1.42% Christian.
So How did it get to Nepal?
This is a version of the Chinese Baozi or Jiaozi brought to Nepal from Tibetan migrants who learned from the Chinese. Momo however, isn’t served with soy sauce, it’s served with a delicious authentically spicy tomato chutney. It can be found as a fast food, but also that most fancy restaurants since its one of the most popular dishes in Nepal. It is usually served as a main dish with rice, dal-bhaat-tarkari, lentils, vegetarians curry. Making it is also a way for family members and friends to get together.
Addition based on my dad's statement: Momo is a staple Nepalese fast food; originally from China. In its common form, its main ingredient is pork and in Nepal, pork comes together with all the belly fats, flesh and the skin of the animal. In Nepal, they use three layers of pots with perforated base upon a pot where soup/broth is boiled as the momo is cooked with steam.
Recipes (My parent's own recipes)
Preparation and Cook Time
- Ready in: 1hr
- Serves: 4-6
- Units: US
Ingredients for Momo
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon oil
- water, as required
- Dough for wrappers (you can purchase it at H-mart)
- 1 pinch salt
Filling
- 1 pound finely minced pork
- 1 pound of sweet onion finely chopped
- A small bunch of cilantro finely chopped
- Salt to taste
- Mix them together and set aside. (Desirable you add a stick of butter to the pork, which will make the momo softer; optional.)
Broth
- Water
- Chicken bones
- Carrots
- Salt to taste
- Celery
- Onions
Tomato Chutney
- 2 Roma tomatoes
- 1/2 Onion
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 1 Small habanero (if you are feeling brave)
- or something less spicy
- 1 small piece of ginger
- 1 tbs of salt and pepper
Instructions
- In a separate bowl, mix half a pound of flour, with a pinch of salt and half a stick of butter and adding a small quantity of water knead them together. Divide into small portions, size of golf balls and roll them into thin pancakes; guess you will have about thirty of them.
- Now, skillfully, wrap golf ball size of minced pork prepared earlier into dumplings in any shape you fancy and arrange them in momo dish taking care the individual dumplings do not touch each other.
Assembly
- While you were making the dumplings, pig bones with potatoes and noodles with salt to taste is being boiled. Now place the three layers of momo dish over the soup pot and now you can go and watch tv for an hour or longer.
- That is the one dish meal of soup and momo, served with really hot chutney.