Bhutan: Momos - Vegetable Dumplings

Confession: I have never made dumplings before.

That being said, I'd never made bread, or pasta, or empanadas before this project either, and that hasn't stopped me.

(Side Note! While writing this blog post I have discovered that there is a huge variety of dumplings and the word 'dumpling' is just a classification of a dish that is made from pieces of dough made from various forms of starch, wrapped around a filling, or of a dough with no filling. When I refer to dumplings in this post, I mean East Asian style dumplings, such as dim-sum or gyoza).

There's something about dumplings that I just think is absolutely adorable. It must be their little steamed wrappers that are lovingly handcrafted together. They're so cute! And while I was nervous about making momos, I was also up to the challenge.

Momos are native to Bhutan, Tibet, Nepal, and the surrounding regions. They can be stuffed with minced meat, or vegetables, or seafood, or a combination of all of these. I was looking at recipes and had to decide between stuffing mine with a mixture of vegetables, or mushrooms. I'm not a big fan of mushrooms so opted for the mix-veg and used cabbage, carrots, onion, and red pepper (capsicum).

I got halfway through making my momos before realising I had no idea what I was going to steam them in. I don't have a steamer. In a panic, I called my lovely friend Grace who makes beautiful dumplings for herself and her husband. She came up with a bunch of different options, and I opted to microwave them in my microwave steamer which I usually use to cook vegetables. Another option we considered was putting them in a sieve over a pan of boiling water and covering the sieve with a lid, so maybe I will try that next time.

Either way, the microwave steamer worked fine. I could only do 3 momos at a time but that worked favourably for me as it meant I could spend those minutes rolling out and filling the next few dumpling wrappers.

The only thing about steaming these in the microwave is that the dough dried out quite a bit before we sat down to eat. The bottom of the dumplings were still soft and steamy, but the top where I had pressed the sides together were a bit dry and crunchy. Perhaps if I had just steamed them in a sieve over the stovetop I wouldn't have had this issue.

Not bad for a first time!

Momos are traditionally served with a hot chilli chutney, but I was busy making two other dishes for Bhutan so we had ours with soy sauce instead.

I thought they turned out pretty damn great for my first time. Apart from the slightly dried dough, I thought they were just as cute as any dumplings I've eaten in restaurants, although certainly not as professional looking. The stuffing was tasty with just the right amount of seasoning, and while I felt like there was quite a lot of air (and therefore space) in each dumpling, they were still delicious. I would have liked to have tried them with the Bhutanese chutney you're supposed to serve them in, but would have meant focusing on a fourth dish and I couldn't be bothered by this point - I'd already been cooking for two hours!

All in all, I thought my momos were a complete success. Tasty, moreish, and enough for dinner with a few leftovers for the following lunch too. Perfect!

Momos - Bhutanese Dumplings
Makes about 16 momos

Ingredients
For the dough:

• 1.5 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water, or as required

For the filling:

• 2/3 cup cabbage, finely shredded
• 2/3 cup carrot, grated
• 1/2 cup red pepper (capsicum), finely chopped
• 1/2 cup white onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons spring onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• Salt and pepper, as per taste
• 1 teaspoon cooking oil of your choice

Instructions

1. Mix all the ingredients for the dough together and knead to make a smooth dough. Cover with a wet cloth and set aside.
2. In a pan, heat oil over a medium heat. Add ginger, garlic and onion. Fry for about 30 seconds before adding the remaining vegetables. Add sat, pepper, and vinegar and stir-fry everything until the moisture evaporates. Remove from heat and set aside until the mixture reaches room temperature.
3. Divide the dough in half, then half again, and half again, until you have 16 even-sized balls. Keep them covered under a wet cloth. Take one dough ball at a time, flatten it between you hands, dust it with some dry flour and roll into a thin disc using a rolling pin.
4. Put about a tablespoon of the filling mix into the middle of the disc. Lift the edges from all sides and start pleating them together in the centre. Pinch together to ensure the dough sticks together (see photo above). Repeat with the remaining dough balls. 
5. To steam you can either: use a steamer and steam for about 20 minutes, or steam in the microwave with a microwavable steamer for about 3 minutes; or boil some water in a saucepan, place momos in a sieve over the top of the pan and cover with a lid or a plate, and steam for about 7-8 minutes or until cooked through. Ensure that whichever method you choose, do not let the momos touch each other!
6. Serve with momo chutney, or soy sauce.