Veg Momos with sesame chutney

Today I am sharing the recipe of Veg Momos along with Sesame chutney. Momos are dumplings popular in Nepal, Tibet, the bordering regions of Bhutan, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Last year I used to visit a particular mall near our home very frequently with friends. After shopping to our hearts fill, we used to take the much needed rest in the food court and order our favorite food. Every time we used to go to the food court, I used to notice that there used to be lots of people waiting to eat a particular white color weirdly shaped stuff which was being served hot. And I used to pass by that shop staring at the food but never ordered it as I was unfamiliar with it. But I always wanted to taste it!! One fine day I waved aside all my fears and ordered the stuff and I must say it turned out to be a very good decision because the weirdly shaped dish tasted delicious. Absolutely lip smacking!! I finished off one plate completely ( Mainly because my friend was fasting :P ) and had to skip dinner that night as I was feeling too full :) I watched how to prepare them in a cookery show on our local channel and adapted the recipe to my taste. Try it out and let me know if you enjoyed the dish :)

Veg Momos:

Prep Time: 1 hr 
Cook Time: 10 min
Total Time: 1 hr 10 min

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1 cup All purpose flour or Maida
Salt
Water

For the Momo Spice:

1 Tbsp Mustard Seeds
1 Tbsp Cumin Seeds
1 Tbsp White Sesame Seeds
1 Tbsp Fenugreek Seeds
1/4 Tbsp Caraway seeds or Ajwain

For the Filling:

1 Tbsp chopped  Ginger
1 Tbsp Chopped Garlic
1/2 cup chopped cabbage
1/2 cup chopped or grated carrot
1/4 cup chopped spring onion
1/4 cup chopped Spinach
1/4 cup crumbled Paneer (Cottage Cheese) or Cheddar Cheese
1/2 Tbsp Pepper Powder
1/2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 Fat Pinches of Momo spice
Salt
Oil



Prepping:

Step 1: Making the Momo Spice - The 5 spice Mixture

• Dry roast the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, sesame seeds, fenugreek seeds and caraway seeds.
• Cool and grind the mixture to powder form. Save in a bottle and use as required. 

Step 2: Making the Dough

• Mix All purpose flour and salt in a wide bowl. Gradually add water and knead into a soft dough.
• Cover with a wet cloth and let the dough rest till the filling is made.  

Step 3: Making the filling

• Heat 1 Tbsp Oil in a pan and when the oil becomes hot, add ginger and garlic. Saute for 2 min.

• Add chopped cabbage and saute for 3 min.

• Add chopped carrot and saute for another 2 - 3 min.

• Then add chopped spring onion and mix well.

• Add pepper powder, soy sauce and salt. Mix well. 

• Add chopped spinach and stir and switch off.

• Add crumbled paneer and mix.

• Add momo spice( 5 spice mixture) and mix well. Keep aside the filling and let it cool.

Method of Preparing:

Step 1: 

Take the dough and knead once again and make large balls out of it.

Step 2:

Roll the balls thinly.  Aah... Please ignore my rolling talents!! It hardly comes out round shaped:)

Then using a plastic cup or any round shaped vessel, make round shapes on the rolled balls. 

Take out the round shapes and roll them thin again especially on the edges.

Step 3:

Now place the filling on the center of the rolled thin sheets. I know I know!!! I lost the round shape when I rolled them thin on the edges !! Sorry !!! In my opinion it doesnt matter that much and try to get as much round shape as possible.

Step 4:

Now take the edges of the rolled thin sheet. Start pleating from one corner and bring all the pleats together at the center. Stick them together. 

Pleat all the sides and bring them together at the center and stick together.

Step 5:

Repeat steps 1 to 4 till the dough is over.

Step 6:  

Grease the steamer plates with oil and arrange the momos neatly with sufficient space between them on the steamer plates. Steam for 10 min. 

Serve the Momos with sesame Chutney. Let us check out the recipe for Sesame Chutney now. 

Sesame Chutney:

Prep Time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total Time : 10 - 15 min

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp chopped Ginger
1 Tbsp chopped Garlic
4- 5 Tbsp White Sesame Seeds
Half of a capsicum chopped
Half of a Tomato chopped
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp Oil

Prepping:

Step 1: Dry roast sesame seeds for 3 min and keep aside. Dont let it turn brown completely. 
Step 2: Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a pan and when the oil becomes hot, add ginger and garlic. Saute for 2min.

Step 3: Add capsicum to it and stir on high heat for 2min.
Step 4: Add Tomato and stir till it starts becoming mushy.

Step 5: Let the mixture cool.

Method of Preparing:

Step 1 :

Add dry roasted sesame seeds, cooled capsicum tomato mixture and lemon juice to a mixer / blender and grind without adding water to a smooth paste. 

Enjoy the Momos with the Chat pata Sesame chutney. I think the momos are tasty enough to have by itself. Momos can be enjoyed along with Tomato sauce as well. 

Incase you are wondering why there are no pictures of momos with sesame chutney together. I made the chutney in the morning and the momos in the evening. Momos were so tempting just out of the steamer that I hurriedly took some pics and had them just like that and completely forgot about the sesame chutney!! We used sesame chutney with dosas during dinner :) May be I will post the pic of momos and sesame chutney together the next time... 

I am sending the recipe to the blog event "Whats with my cuppa" started by Nupur and hosted this month by Chef Mireille. 

Also sending the recipe to the blog event "Walking through Memory Lane" started by Gayathri and hosted this month by Radhika.

Also sending the recipe to Jagruti's event - Gain Popularity.