Chicken Momo

                                                                                          
A delicious snack to enjoy during winters. Originated from Northen Nepal and Tibet, these are steamed or fried dumplings with minced meat or vegetables. Very simple to prepare and tastes divine!!! Today I'm going to post the non-veg version. When I was in Delhi, almost every fortnight I used to go to Lajpat Nagar or Sarojani Nagar to relish this yummy snack at an affordable price. It was hard to believe seeing freshly made momos prepared in front of you in less than 15 minutes. I'm particularly talking about one lady who started off her business very humbly and on low profile but within a span of few months her popularity incresed immensely. However, she did not compromise on the quality nor increased the price drastically in last few  years. Whenever I visit Lajpat Nagar I make it a point to stop by in that stall for a plate of mouthwatering momos.  

Serves: 15, Preparation time: 20 minutes, Cooking time: 20 minutes


Ingredients:
For Dough:
2 cups all-purpose Flour
1 tbsp Oil
Salt as required
Water as required


Filling:
300 gms Chicken (minced)
2 Onions (finely chopped)
1 tbsp Garlic (chopped)
3 tsp ginger (chopped)
3-4 Spring onions
2-3 Green chillies
Salt & pepper to taste


Preparing the Filling:
Pressure cook the minced chicken with 1/4 cup water and salt till 1 whistle. Lelease the steam. Open the lid and drain out excess water from the minced chicken by using a stainer. Mix the remaining ingredients of filling. Mix well and keep it in refrigerator for an hour. Now heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the filling mixture till it turns light brown. Keep aside.

                                                                             


Preparing the Dough:
In a large bowl combine flour, oil, salt and water. Knead into a smooth ball of dough. The dough should not cling to you hand. Knead well until you have a nice stiff dough. To moister the content of the dough intact, put the dough inside a container with the lid on for 1/2 an hour.


Arranging Wrapper:
Tear off a small portion of dough and roll between your hands to shape them round. Dust the working board with little flour and gently flatten the ball with rolling pin. The size should be 2-3 inches in diameter. In order to ensure well prepared momos it's important that the middle of the wrapper should be slightly thicker than the edges. This will ensure that while packaging the filling, the juices does not pour out from the wrapper. Place 1 tsp filling of chicken in the middle of the wrapper and seal it by making the pleats of the edges.

                                                                              
Continue folding and pinching all around the edges of the wrapper till you reach the starting point.

                                                                                    
 Gently twist all the pleats in the clock wise direction, so that the content are sealed.

                                                                          


How to Fry:
In a deep frying pan, heat oil & fry the momos. Make sure to fry the momos on medium flame and stir these momos so that they are evenly fried. Serve hot momos with a hot tomato-garlic sauce (this sauce recipe I'm going to post in my next post) or with a clear soup.


User Comments & Tips:

• The wrappers can be made of two different shapes, one is round style that I have made here another is half moon shaped. Generally round shape is made for meat stuffing and half moon shape for vegetable momos.
• Instead of frying you can steam the momos on idli stand. Just do remember to oil the idli pan before placing the momos, so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Steam the momos for 15 minutes in the pressure cooker.
• While preparing momos in batches put a damp cloth over your dough balls to sustain the moisture.