Momos are most loved food in India. Its a dumpling of vegetable/chicken with other items, steamed and served hot. The origin of this dish is Tibet,  found also in Nepal,  it is also known as Indo-Tibetian dish. Majority students and food-lovers are falling in love with the dish which is preferred because it is light, non-oily, steamed and pocket friendly. The veg/non- veg momos  both are popular giving rise to many recipes like pan-fried momo, cheese momo, Burger momo etc. Personally I am also crazy lover of ‘momos’ be it veg or non-veg. I had it many times while I visited Darjeeling and even at Shillong. The dish is spreading like a  ‘wild-fire’ and is  believed to be a healthy diet normally taken steamed with a soup bowl and a hot chutney (Sauce) made from tomatoes, chillies, ginger and other ingredients.

In almost every Indian cities the popularity of momos has drastically increased , including kolkata! Momo stalls are found in many popular street -food joints as well as in malls. So I tried it at my home, the chicken-momo, it was delicious and earlier attempts were I failed this time I succeeded making this dumpling, it was like a victory for me. It seems simple dish but its tricky but try it you will definitely love it.

TIPS: Roll the dough very thin so that it can steam easily.

Note: I havnt used ajina-moto or monosodium glutamate to enhance the taste (Optional)

Ingredients: for filling and dough

• 250 g finely minced Chicken
• 1/2 tsp – Turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp – Ginger Garlic paste
• 2 tbsp – finely chopped Carrots
• 2 tbsp – finely chopped Cabbage
• 2 green chillies finely chopped
• 1 finely chopped Onion
• 1 tsp – white/black pepper powder
• 200 g flour (maida)
• 2 tbsp – oil
• Salt
• Sugar (optional)

Procedure:

1. Mix the 2 tbsp. of oil and a pinch of salt in the flour.
2. Then knead the flour into a dough with some water.
3. Keep the dough covered with a damp cloth.
4. Mix the minced chicken with some salt,  ginger-garlic paste, onion, green chillies, carrots,cabbage, pepper powder and one to two table spoons oil.
5. keep the  mixture of filling in a refrigerator for about 20 minutes (do not deep freeze), it  will make it firm. No need to boil.
6. Next take the dough and make a thin roti out of it. Keep it big.
7. Take a small bowl with sharp edges and cut out equal shapes from this roti. Please ensure that the cut-outs/wrappers are not very small.
8. For packing hold wrapper on one palm, put one tablespoon of chicken mixture in the centre of it and with the other hand bring , turns it into create pleate, close it entirely.
9. Pinch and twist the pleats to ensure the absolute closure of the stuffed dumpling.
10. You can also put a tbsp of chicken mixture in a small cut out wrapper and fold it in a semicircle by flattening the edges with a fork. Please ensure absolute closure of the stuffed momo.
11. Heat up a steamer, oil the steamer rack well. (This is critical because it will prevent dumplings from sticking.)
12. Arrange uncooked momos in the steamer with some space left between them. Close the lid, and allow steaming until the momos are cooked thoroughly, about 10-15 min.
13. Take the momos off the steamer, and immediately serve with Garlic/tomato chutney.
14. You can also deep fry the momos before serving them.