Its autumn here and chilly during mornings and evenings; so it is the perfect time to make our favourite dish, momo. I have shared how to make momo here before. Today I am sharing how to make Jhol (soup) achar for the momo for cold weather.
Ingredients
10 medium ripe tomatoes sliced
1 large red onion sliced
2 red dry chilli
60gm brown sesame seed
3 cloves of fresh garlic sliced
1 small bunch of fresh coriander chopped
1 chicken stock cube
Salt to taste
2 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
3 table spoon oil
4 cup of Water
Lemon juice (optional)
Procedure
Roast the sesame seed in a pan and grind to make a powder and put aside.
In a pan, heat the oil and fry the dry chilli, sliced garlic cloves and turmeric powder.
Add the sliced onion and sauté until light brown.
Add sliced tomatoes and fry it until the tomatoes are cooked and turns into thick paste.
Now add chicken stock cube, fresh coriander, sesame powder, salt, chilli powder and fry for a few minutes.
Add this paste into a blender, add a cup of water and blend until the paste is smooth.
In a big bowl, pour the mixture from the blender and remaining 3 cups of water and mix until the soup is consistent.
If you like the soup a bit sour, add juice of one lemon.
If you have ever met someone from Nepal, you must already know by now that Nepali people are crazy about momo. There are many varieties of momo and a simple recipe for one of them is posted here.
Today I am posting the recipe for C momo, C stands for chill so it is a hot and spicy momo recipe.
1 small red onion cut into quarters and with layers separated
1 red capsicum cut into inch square shape
3 tablespoons Oil
5 tablespoons of ketchup
2 tablespoons of chilli sauce/ hot and sweet sauce (more if you like hot)
1 tablespoon Chili paste/ half tablespoon chilli powder
Salt to taste
5 tablespoons soy sauce
Coriander to garnish
Steps
Preheat the oven to 200 0C and bake the tomatoes for 10 minutes or until tomatoes are cooked and skin starts peeling off.
In a pan, heat a spoon of oil and brown the momo. (optional)
Take the momo out from the pan and put aside.
In the same pan, add remaining oil and fry crushed garlic and ginger paste.
Now add the baked tomatoes and cooked it until it is a smooth paste. If the sauce starts drying, add a small quantity of water.
Now add green chill, onion, capsicum, and sauté for a couple of minutes.
Add ketchup, chill/hot and sour sauce, soya sauce and cook on low heat for few minutes. If the sauce starts to dry, add small quantity of water. Make sure the sauce is not very runny.
Taste the sauce and add salt as requires. Soya sauce makes it pretty salty so watch the amount of salt you add.
Add momo to the sauce and stir and close the lid of the pan for 2 minutes allowing momo to heat.
Transfer the momo to a plate and garnish with fresh coriander
Momo is one of the popular food of Nepal. Yesterday I had a day off so I decided to make momo. There are different ways of making momo but I think the way I do it is the simplest. So here is the process.
Ingredients for momo:
3 Wonton Pastry wrappers from an Asian grocery store, 30 pieces in each pack (In Nepal, they make their own from scratch. It is like making roti but only as big as your palm.)
½ kg chicken mince
¼ of cabbage finely chopped
½ kg red onion finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 fresh red chilli, diced
2 tablespoons mustard oil
Salt to taste
Process
Mix the chicken mince, cabbage, red opinion, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, chilli and salt in a bowl.
Heat oil in a pan and add turmeric powder. Pour the oil on top of the mixture prepared in above step and mix well.
Leave the mixture in the fridge for ½ hours so meat is will be well seasoned.
In the mean time, make the golbheda (Nepali tomato sauce) ko achar as mention below.
Now we need to pack the meat in the wonton pastry.
Take one sheet of pastry on one palm and fold as shown in the video below.
You can choose to make a semi circle one (my attempt) or round one (AS’s attempt).
Pinch and twist the pleats to ensure the absolute closure of the stuffed dumpling, this keeps the juices inside for a tasty momo.
Make at least one pack (30 pieces) before heating the water.
Heat water in the steamer.
Oil the steamer racks and transfer the dumplings onto the rack. Make sure you leave enough room between two momos to expand during cooking.
Once the water starts boiling, put the heat on medium and stack the rack on the steamer.
Steam for 10 minutes.
Serve the cooked momo with achar.
Momos are best when served hot.
Ingredients for achar
½ kg tomato
½ bunch of coriander
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 fresh red chilli, diced
1 tablespoon mustard oil
Salt to taste
Method for achar
Dice tomatoes into small cubes.
Heat the oil in the pan.
Add turmeric powder, ginger and garlic and fry for few minutes.
Add diced tomatoes and cumin power, coriander powder, chilli and salt and fry for few minutes.
Add 2 cups of water and let it simmer on low heat for 10-15 minutes.
When the paste becomes thick, it is ready to be served.
Cut fresh coriander into small pieces.
Now add the chopped fresh coriander and mix it in the achar.
Enjoy Momo with Golbheda ko achar.
PS: If you can find momo masala in Asian grocery store, you can use that instead of cumin and coriander powder. It tastes better with momo masala.
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