Delicious, flavoursome, tender steamed veg momos stuffed with savory vegetable filling are perfect as snack or appetiser. They are a type of dumpling and can be enjoyed with sauces, chutney or dunked in hot comforting bowl of soup or broth on a chilly winter day.
Momos or momo are from Nepali / Tibetan cuisine and are quite popular as street food in Northern parts of India. They are mostly relished with spicy fiery red chutney made using chillies, garlic or tomatoes etc. The last time I tried them in Delhi, they were even serving mayonnaise with momos (absolutely loathed this combo!).
Its filling can include minced meat or be made vegetarian using variety of ingredients like vegetables (cabbage, carrots, onions etc), herbs, tofu, paneer (Indian cottage cheese) or textured vegetable protein like soy chunks or soy mince.
Dimsum vs Momo- Both momos and dimsums are used interchangeably, however they are slightly different. The first is the area of their origin – Momos originated from Himalayan region whereas dimsums originated from China (cantonese region).
Second difference is in their outer covering. In momos, the wrapper dough is made using wheat or all purpose flour whereas in dimsums other flours like rice flour, tapioca flour or potato starch etc are also added which gives them slightly translucent glassy look.
The filling in momos is customisable and you can always use herbs, spices, protein or vegetables as per your liking. The veg momos recipe shared here is:
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Easy to make
- Dairy free / Meatless
Momos Ingredients:
Flour: The outer covering for momos is made with simple kitchen ingredients like all purpose flour (maida), water and salt. A soft pliable dough is kneaded, divided and rolled into circular shapes to make wrappers. To cut short the preparation time, you can use store bought dumpling wrappers.
I sometimes add spinach puree or beetroot puree while kneading the flour to give the wrappers green or pink colour. I once tried purple coloured dumplings in a restaurant in Dubai, where they had used purple sweet potato powder for colour.
Vegetables: Feel free to add any vegetables in filling like cabbage, purple cabbage, capsicum, bell peppers, onion, carrots, mushrooms or spinach. Fresh green chillies is added for heat and spiciness but if you do not like spicy food, skip it.
Protein: To make these momos more protein-packed, nutritious (and a complete meal), you can add crumbled paneer (cottage cheese made by curdling milk) or for vegan protein you can add tofu or minced soy.
Aromatics or Herbs: Ginger, garlic and spring onion greens add punch of flavour and aroma to the stuffing. Whatever veggies or protein you choose to add, don’t skip adding ginger and garlic.
Sauces or seasoning: The vegetable filling is seasoned with simple salt, crushed black pepper and soy sauce.
More asia style recipes (all are vegan):
- Sweet & Sour Tofu
- Peanut Sauce Noodles
- Vegetable Spring Rolls
- Vegetable Noodle Soup
- Vegetable Rice Paper Rolls
Ingredients: (Makes 19-20 momos)
- For covering:
- All purpose flour (Maida)- 1 cup
- Water- As required
- Salt- 1 tsp
- Oil- 1 tsp
- For stuffing:
- Oil-1 tbsp
- Ginger Garlic paste- 2 tsp
- Green chillies (chopped)- 2
- Cabbage (chopped)- 1 cup
- Onions (chopped)- 2
- Bell Pepper / Capsicum (chopped)- 1
- Carrots (chopped) -1
- Salt- 1 tsp (to taste)
- Black Pepper (freshly ground)- 1 tsp (to taste)
- Vinegar- 1 tsp
- Soy Sauce- 1 tsp
(Note: Skip green chillies and adjust spices if making for kids.)
Directions:
Step 1:
Knead the dough using all purpose flour, salt and water. It would take almost 1/3 cup water to get it completely. In case the dough feels sticky, rub teaspoon of oil in your hand and knead it once more. Cover the dough with a moist cloth and keep it aside.
Step 2:
In a pan, heat the oil. Add ginger-garlic paste. After 4-5 seconds, add green chillies and rest of the chopped vegetables. Add salt and black pepper. Cook the vegetable for 4-5 minutes only so that excess of water content is not present in stuffing for later stage in cooking. Do not overcook the vegetables as it will make the momo dry and devoid of juices. Add vinegar and soya sauce. Stir well.
Step 3:
We have dough and stuffing ready with us now. Keep the stuffing aside so that its not hot while filling. Pour some water in steamer and bring it to boil.I have a folding steamer which can be placed inside the boiling pot. I am going to use it for steaming momos.
Once the stuffing is not hot anymore start making momos. To begin with, make small balls from the dough. The balls have to be really small. You yourself would be surprised at the stretching capacity of all purpose flour dough. Start rolling them down. Take some dry flour in a bowl. In between, touch the rolled dough in this dry flour when it becomes sticky. The trick while rolling is, do not roll at the centre of the dough. Try to focus more on the edges. It would make a roughly 3 inches circle. Now, place the stuffing in the middle of the circle.
Here comes the tricky part of folding the momos. First of all stick the two opposite edges of the circle from one end. Now, make a small pleat on the edge which is towards your body and join it to the fold you just made along with the opposite edge. Repeat the process by making pleats and sticking it to the prior pleat.
Once you have made 8-10 momos, brush some oil on the steamer and place them over it. Cover the vessel with a lid and let it steam for whole 10 min.
After ten min, open the lid, hot steaming momos are ready to gorge upon. Enjoy it with any dip or with this spicy fiery chilli garlic sauce.
If you try this vegetable momos recipe & share pics on social media, then don’t forget to tag on Facebook, Instagram or use #kuchpakrahahai.
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