Bring a little bit of Nepal into your home & heart with this delicious Veggie Momo Recipe!

Momos are an extremely popular street food in Nepal. Essentially a dumpling made from all purpose flour with a savoury stuffing, it is a delicious warm dish often served with spicy pickle (achar). It can be both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, however as we stick with a vegetarian diet on the trek itself, you will mostly find veggie ones served on your high altitude adventure.

If you're booked on a trek in Nepal, from Everest Base Camp to Annapurna Circuit, you will definitely encounter this tasty dish & we recommend giving it a try - yum! Now, with this delicious recipe sent in from our Head of Nepalese Ops - Anuj Pandey, you can also enjoy an authentic Momo (or 10) at home! Perfect for if you're missing Nepal, or to celebrate the excitement of a trek planned for the future!

Making Momos involves four steps.

Step 1 – Making the dough
Step 2 – Making veggie stuffing
Step 3 – Shaping momos
Step 4 – Steaming momos

Plus a bonus recipe of the pickle to go with them, achar - delicious! The achar is best made in advance of steaming your momos, so skip to the end to get started on this tangy accompaniment.

Step 1 – Making the dough

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon oil
• Water as required 

Mix the flour, salt and oil in a bowl. Add 2 to 3 tablespoon water in parts and begin to knead to make a firm dough. Make sure the dough is not very soft or it will be difficult to shape the momo. You can add some more water (1 to 2 tablespoons) if you find the dough is too dry while kneading. Once the dough is ready, cover it with a moist napkin or kitchen towel and let it rest until you finish making the veggie stuffing.

Step 2 – Making veggie stuffing

Ingredients:

• 1.5 to 1.75 cups of finely chopped carrot, cabbage, capsicum and French beans
• ½ cup finely chopped coriander leaves 
• ½ teaspoon ginger garlic paste 
• 1 medium sized finely chopped onion
• ¼  teaspoon of turmeric powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin powder
• ¼ teaspoon red chilli powder 
• ½ teaspoon oil
• ½ teaspoon butter (to make it juicy, avoid it if you don’t want it oily) 
• Salt as per taste 

Heat oil and butter in a thick bottomed pan. Add ginger garlic paste and sauté for 2 to 3 seconds on medium-low heat. Add finely chopped onion and sauté for 10 to 15 seconds on medium-low heat. Add the veggies and stir it on a medium to high heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Then add turmeric powder, cumin powder, chilli powder and salt. Continue to stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes more. Finally, add your chopped coriander, mix well and turn off the heat. Check the taste and add more salt if needed. Now, the veggie stuffing is ready! Let it cool completely before filling & shaping your momos.

Step 3 – Shaping momos

Knead the dough once again. Divide it in two equal parts. Shape each dough into a long log of 7/8 inches and cut it into 6/7 small pieces. Now roll the pieces into small dough balls. Take each dough ball on a lightly dusted board, and flatten each dough ball into a thin wrapper like circle of about 3 to 4 inches diameter (use rolling pin). Make sure the edges are thin. Now, the tricky and fun part starts. Place about 2 teaspoons of veggie stuffing in the center and start to shape it. Hold the wrapper in your left hand. Use your right thumb and index finger to start pleating the edges of the wrapper together until the edges of the circle close up like a little pocket. (The most common shape of momo is the round one with pleats. But momo comes in different shapes. You can try your creativity and come up with your own shape). Repeat the same process with all the remaining dough wrappers.

Step 4 – Steaming momos

After all the momos are shaped, place them in a steamer. Nepali momo steamer has many layers (bottom layer and other layers with small holes in the bottom). Pour water (about half of the steamer) in the bottom most layer & bring it to boil. While it prepares to boil, grease the upper layer with oil and put momos in it. Make sure the momos don’t stick with each other. Once the water is boiling, put the upper layer with momos on it and cover it. Steam them for about 7/8 minutes till they look slightly transparent. You can check when your momos are ready by a gentle touch. If it does not feel sticky and it has transparent look, it is done and the momo is ready to eat. Serve it hot with spicy tomato pickle (achar). 

Momo Pickle (Achar) 

Momo is never served without pickle or sauce. Making Achar is just as important as making the momo, as the pickle always takes the taste of momo to the next level!  In fact, momo in some places are best seller just because of momo achar. Momo achar should be prepared in advance as momo is meant to be taken hot and achar is taken cold. 

Ingredients (for about 350 ml): 

You can make extra momo achar and freeze for later use as well. 

• 5 tomatoes
• 1.5 tablespoons of sesame seeds
• ½  tablespoons of cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoons of oil
• 1 tablespoons of red chilli paste
• 1 tablespoons of garlic paste
• 1 tablespoons of ginger paste
• ½  tablespoons of coriander powder
• ½ tablespoons of turmeric powder
• Salt as per taste 
• 350 ml of water

Roast the sesame seeds and cumin seeds in a frying pan till it turns brown and ground it into powder. Put oil in a pan. After it is hot, add chopped tomatoes, red chili paste, ginger and garlic paste, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well and put the heat on until the tomatoes are cooked. Turn off the heat and leave it to cool. After, the mixture gets cold, put it in the blender, add water and blend until it gets smooth. You can also add a little bit of lemon juice if you like. Now the achar is ready to be served with hot momos - Enjoy!

If you try this recipe be sure to get in touch with us to let us know how you got on! We love momos & hope you do too!