Momo Mia!!!

Whoever said "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime", obviously hasn't experienced the joys of eating his Mother's fish curry! Methinks no matter how well you cook your fish, errr I meant your dish, it will never be as tasty as your mother's!

You know that.

Your husband knows that.

And even your toddlers know that! 

Once The Mother arrived, the husband moved from his usual monosyllabic 'Hmmmm' that reeked of disappointment when you monotonously announced the night's menu, to grinning blissfully and doing a sycophantic, "But Aunty, how can I eat so many dishes?". To which Aunty beamed with contentment and gratification and said, "Arre baba, you must enjoy all this while I'm here. After that you will anyway go back to your one curry meal" (cooked by Aunty's own daughter, who was standing right there, mind you!) 

And the fussy brats moved from "Mamma me no likes this"; this implying anything on their plate, to walking into the kitchen each evening and asking The Mother, "What's dinner, Didu (grandma)?" followed by wild cheers of excitement, no matter what she said. 

So I did what any sensible, smart adult would do in my place. Instead of crying "Et Tu, Brute?", I sat back and let The Mother take complete charge of the kitchen. If a part of me ever felt sad about how much everyone preferred The Mother's cooking to mine, I shut that part up by stuffing it with her yummy moghlai parathas, her paturis, her fish curries and her momos! 

And I was rewarded for my good sense by the sight of my 2 fussy eaters gleefully digging into her pulao and fish, lapping up her idlis and chutney and polishing off her momos with ketchup, her chicken pakoras with ketchup and everything else she made with ketchup slathered all over!

Now we come to the Momos. It has always been The Mother's speciality. They taste like little drops of Heaven; infinitesimally better than the momos I used to order from the little Tibetan joint near my Mumbai apartment.

Till now neither my sisters, nor I have tried to learn it. We probably wouldn't make it as well as her anyway! So we used to wait for those few weeks/ months when she came to visit or for that yearly trip to the Motherland. And then spent the rest of the year waiting, nostalgically remembering her momos and her moghlai parathas.

But this time, something changed. My twins fell in love with her momos. So much so, that V2, who hates food that doesn't come in the form of potato chips or chocolates, suddenly started asking for momos. 

"Didu, me wants momo for dinner" he would say before we marched off to school. And an over the moon Didu would get down to making it for her grandchild. 

Then when it was time to leave, Didu was worried. "What will my grandchildren eat when I'm gone?". What could I say? She had proven during her 3 month stay that "people will eat anything as long as you know how to cook". 

So I sighed, graciously surrendered and offered to learn. 

This is her recipe. There are a few caveats that you should know before you proceed - 

1. Most of these quantities are not exactly to measure. The Mother doesn't do anything to measure unless she is baking. 

2. The photographs are TERRIBLE! But hey, do you know how difficult it is to take pictures while you are busy trying to cook with two hungry toddlers waiting and with your MOTHER breathing down your neck, shaking her head and going Tch Tch every two minutes???? And then let's face it, when it comes to food, I am an eater, not a photographer! 

So here, without further ado, is the recipe ~ 

CHICKEN STEAMED MOMOS 

Step 1: Making the Dough 

You will need Maida/ Flour. I took 3 small bowls, about the size of a those tiny, delicate cups that you can serve Chinese tea in. 

1 egg white 

1 and half tsp Sunflower/ Canola oil 

Salt to taste 

Knead all the above well with a little water, till it is really soft. 

Step 2 : Making the Filling 

You will need for the filling -

1/2 kg chicken minced (you probably wouldn't need the entire filling in one go. I make it and use it over 2 days)

1 large onion finely chopped

1 inch ginger grated

1 whole garlic finely chopped

1 big handful coriander leaf finely chopped. 

Green chillies finely chopped (which I add later on after I finish making for the brats) 

1 and half teaspoon sesame oil 

Salt to taste 

Mix all these ingredients in a bowl. Set aside. 

This is how your filling will look.

Step 3: Preparation

Now rub some oil all over the steaming surface in your steamer. Then put water in the steamer and let it boil. 

Roll the dough into circular puris. Remember they have to be really thin else your momo will be quite thick.

Put the filling.

Close it. This part is somewhat tricky. The Mother says make the pleats like one does for a sari or a pleated skirt. (Mine obviously looks like a skirt that is a fashion disaster)

After making about 7-8, put the batch in the steamer and let it steam. Each batch would take about 15-20 minutes.

I tried to do it the way she asked and found it difficult so I ended up making them into little money bags (much to The Mother's displeasure)

And yes, after your momos are done, instead of throwing away the water that was used for steaming, you could use the water (since it gets flavoured during the steaming) and add some vegetables, noodles, chicken pieces, stock pot to it, make it into a soup and down it with the momos!