Momo (food)

Momo is a type of East and South Asian steamed filled dumpling, popular across the Indian subcontinent and the Himalayan regions of East-South Asia border.[1] Momos are native to Southwest Chinese region of Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, North Indian region of Ladakh,[1] Northeast Indian regions of Sikkim, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh,[1] and East Indian region of Darjeeling.[1] It is similar to Chinese baozi, jiaozi, and mantou, Mongolian buuz, Japanese gyoza, Korean mandu and Turkic manti, but heavily influenced by cuisine of the Indian subcontinent with Indian spices and herbs. Momos are extremely popular among the natives of the Indian subcontinent, and can be found in every kind of shop from restaurants to street vendors.[1]

Momo
A typical serving of a plate of momo with sesame yellow and red garlic chilli sauce
CourseAppetizers or entrees
Place of originEast Asia and South Asia
Region or stateTibet, Ladakh, Northeast India,[1] and Darjeeling[1]
Associated national cuisineNepal, India,[1] Bhutan
Created byTibetan people or Himalayan Newar merchants
Main ingredientsWhite-flour-and-water dough; meat, vegetable or cheese filling served with tomato and sesame chutney dip, tomato soup, soybean and sesame soup.
VariationsSteam-momo, Kothey momo, C-momo, Fry-momo, Open-momo, fried momo
Food energy
(per serving)
350 to 1000 (35 to 100 per piece) kcal

Names

In Shanxi, where Jin Chinese is spoken, unfilled buns are often called momo (饃饃), which is simply the character for "steamed bun". The name momo spread to Tibet, India and Nepal and usually now refers to filled buns or dumplings.[2] Momo is the colloquial form of the Tibetan word "mog mog".[3] The different names for the dumpling include Assamese: মম; Bengali: মোমো; Nepali: मम; Nepal Bhasa: ममचा, मम:; Tibetan: མོག་མོག་, Wylie: mog mog ; simplified Chinese: 馍馍; traditional Chinese: 饃饃; pinyin: mómo.[4]

History

The exact origins are unclear, but the name's etymology points to northern China (饃饃). The food is thought to have been spread by caravan routes connecting the Central Asian steppe to both East and West. Momo-like filled dumplings, called by a closely associated group of words, exist in Mongolian, Turkish, Persian, Uzbek, and many other Central and East Asian cuisines.[5] (For more, see entries on Mantou, Manti, and Buuz.)

As for the Himalayan momo, the dish is believed to have spread from Tibet along with the influx of the Tibetan diaspora. Since this dish was initially popular among the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, one prevalent belief[6] is that traveling Newar merchants brought the recipe and the name momo from Tibet where the Newar Merchants used to go to trade. Originally, the filling of the dish was typically meat, such as yak, due to the scarcity of vegetables in Tibet. However, after arriving in North Indian plains, the momo was made vegetarian in the modern era to feed the large population of vegetarian Hindus.[1]

Description

Momo is a type of steamed dumpling with some form of filling. Momo has become a traditional delicacy in Nepal, Tibet, as well as among Nepalese and Tibetan communities in Bhutan, as well as people of Ladakh, Northeast India and Darjeeling regions of India.

Production
A plate of momos from Nepal.
A Tibetan woman making momos in Washington, D.C., United States.

A simple white-flour-and-water dough is generally preferred to make the outer momo covering. Sometimes, a little yeast or baking soda is added to give a more doughy texture to the finished product.

Traditionally, momo is prepared with ground/minced meat filling, but in the modern era, this has changed and the fillings have become more elaborate. These days, momo is prepared with virtually any combination of ground meat, vegetables, tofu, paneer cheese, soft chhurpi (local hard cheese) and vegetable and meat combinations.[7]

The dough is rolled into small circular flat pieces. The filling is then enclosed in the circular dough cover either in a round pocket or in a half-moon or crescent shape. People prefer meat that has a lot of fat because it produces flavorful juicy momos. A little oil is sometimes added to the lean ground/minced meat to keep the filling moist and juicy. The dumplings are then cooked by steaming over a soup (either a stock based on bones or vegetables) in a momo-making utensil called mucktoo. The dumplings may also be pan-fried or deep-fried after being steamed.

Varieties

There are typically two types of momo, steamed and fried. Momo is usually served with a dipping sauce (locally called chutney/achhar[9]), normally made with tomato as the base ingredient. Soup momo is a dish with steamed momo immersed in a meat or vegetable broth. Pan-fried momo is also known as kothey momo. Steamed momo served in hot sauce is called C-momo. There are also a variety of dumplings of Nepal found in the Indian state of Sikkim and Darjeeling district, including tingmo and thaipo.

  • Momo in a mucktoo.
  • Kothey, a pan-fried momo variety.
  • C-momo
  • A Tibetan meal with (clockwise from top) tingmo (steamed bread), thenthuk (noodle soup), momos in soup, vegetable gravy, and condiments in center from the Himalaya Restaurant.
  • Indian-style Momos from Darjeeling, India with garlic chutney

See also

References
  1. Lynelle Seow (15 January 2017). CultureShock! India. Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd. pp. 202–. ISBN 978-981-4771-98-6.
  2. Gordon, Stewart (2009). When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the "Riches of the "East" (Reprint ed.). Da Capo Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0306817397.
  3. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. Akadémiai Kiadó. 1955. p. 209.
  4. Jīn Péng 金鹏 (ed.): Zàngyǔ jiǎnzhì 藏语简志. Mínzú chūbǎnshè 民族出版社, Beijing 1983, p. 31. This is not the same as dumpling.
  5. Gordon, Stewart (2009). When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the "Riches of the "East" ((Reprint ed.) ed.). Da Capo Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0306817397.
  6. Sijapati, Alisha (September 17, 2016). "A Juicy Love Affair". Retrieved September 22, 2016 – via The Kathmandu Post.
  7. http://tasteofnepal.blogspot.com/2013/07/momos-or-dumplings.html
  8. "Momo recipe". Himalayanlearning.org. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved April 6, 2011.
  9. Williams, James. "Momos Chutney Recipe". ReciPickr.com.
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