Make street style momos at home with this super easy recipe where I teach you how to make the dough for momos, pleat them and make a vegetarian and chicken stuffing. These are delicious and the best snack there is!
I've been deprived of momos for the last one year and its legit one of our favourite snacks to pick up. Sometimes these even double up as dinner with some sweet corn soup or thukpa - another Nepalese favourite.
The day I made them at home, I was amazed at how easy these were to put together. These are also extremely versatile. You can stuff them with just about anything - vegetables, paneer, cheese and mushrooms, chicken or pork. I'm sharing the recipe for both vegetarian momos and chicken momos. This recipe makes steamed momos, but you can also deep fry them. Fried momos are seriously the best!
This recipe is inspired by the Nepalese momos which are available at literally every corner in India. But these are also called dimsums in other Asian countries. Almost the same thing!
Ingredients for Momos
Here's everything that you'll need:
The dough is made with all purpose flour, salt and lukewarm water. You can use whole wheat flour but the wrapper will be really dense and chewy. All purpose flour or maida also adds more gluten and makes the wrapper easier to roll and pleat
Vegetarian Filling for Momos: The vegetarian filling for momos is cooked or stir fried before using it. You can use a variety of veggies like onions, cabbage, carrots, capsicum or bell peppers, mushrooms, corn, paneer etc.
Chicken Filling for Momos: The chicken filling for momos isn't cooked. All the ingredients - chicken mince, spring onions, onions, celery, ginger, garlic, oyster sauce, pepper, corn flour and salt and mixed together and stuffed in the wrapper. When the momos get steamed, the filling gets cooked - approx 6-7 minutes.
Dough for Making Momos
The dough is a simple mix of all purpose flour, salt and lukewarm water. Kneading with water creates some steam and a really pliable dough which is perfect for making momos. Once the dough is kneaded (it's not important that its completely smooth), cover it with a damp towel and rest it for 20 minutes. Then cut it into small pieces - each piece should be approx 7 grams.
Momo Filling - Veg and Chicken
Both the fillings are really quick and easy to put together.
The chicken filling is made simply by mixing all the ingredients together and is raw. It cooks along with the momos as they steam
The vegetarian filling is made by stir frying all the ingredients together. This filling is precooked to get rid of any excess water in the veggies. If you don't do this, the water will come out as the momos steam and you'll be left with really soggy momos.
Pleating and Steaming Momos
I've shown you two different ways to wrap momos. Both these methods are really simple. If you don't want to make your own momo wrapper at home, you can easily buy round or square wrappers from the store - these are available in the freezer section
Both the momos are steamed for 6 minutes. This time is enough to cook the wrapper and the chicken filling which is raw.
This might seem like quite a few steps. But the best part is that you can make a large batch of momos and freeze them. And then use them as and when you need them.
How to freeze Momos
To freeze momos:
- Make your filling, roll out the wrappers and stuff them.
- Place the stuffed momos on a silicone lined baking sheet in rows, making sure that the momos are not touching each other. Keep the ready momos covered with a wet towel so that they don't dry out as you prep the others.
- Once all your momos are ready, place the tray straight into the freezer. Freeze for 1-2 hours till the momos are completely frozen.
- Place the frozen momos in ziplock bags - I portion them out as I bag them so that I only pull out one bag at a time.
- When you are ready to cook, just place the frozen momos straight into the steamer and steam. There is no need to defrost them. Add an extra two minutes to steaming time for frozen momos.
I bet everyones going to get super excited when you pull this trick out of your hat - homemade momos that taste street style!! I'm not saying you should stop buying momos from your favourite momo cart around the corner but making them at home once in a while is so satisfying. Also momo chutney recipe coming soon!!
Watch the Video
Momos Recipe - Veg and Chicken
Ingredients
Momo Wrapper
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour plus extra for dusting
- ⅓ cup Water
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
Chicken Filling
- 200 Grams Chicken Mince ground chicken
- ½ Cup finely chopped Onion
- 2 Tablespoons finely chopped Celery
- ½ Cup finely chopped Spring Onion
- ½ Teaspoon finely chopped Ginger
- ½ Teaspoon finely chopped Garlic
- 1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
- 1 Teaspoon Cornflour
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ¼ Teaspoon Pepper
Vegetarian Filling
- 1 Tablespoon Oil
- 2 Teaspoon finely chopped Garlic
- 1 Teaspoon finely chopped Ginger
- ½ Cup finely chopped Onion
- 1 Cup finely chopped Cabbage
- ½ Cup finely chopped Carrot
- 1 Teaspoon Soy Sauce
- ¼ Teaspoon Sugar
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ¼ Teaspoon Pepper
Instructions
Momo Wrapper
- Warm water on a low flame for 1-2 minutes or in a microwave for 45 seconds to 1 minute, or until the water is very warm ((between 110F/43C to 120F/48C).
- Add the flour and water to a mixing bowl. Stir using a wooden spoon or your hands to combine. Alternatively, this can be done in a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment on low speed. Continue mixing until all the water is absorbed. If using a stand mixer, remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl until all the flour and water combine.
- Remove and place the dough on a counter and knead it for 2 to 3 minutes. You do not need to dust the surface with flour unless the dough is very sticky. The dough is supposed to be slightly tacky, but not sticky.
- After a few minutes of kneading, you should get a pretty smooth ball of dough. It need not be a super smooth dough, some dimples on the surface are okay. Place the dough back into the bowl, and cover it with a damp towel to let it rest for 20-60 minutes.
Chicken Filling
- Combine all the ingredients for the chicken filling in a bowl. If the filling is very loose, you can add some extra cornflour. Cling wrap or cover with a lid and store in the refrigerator until the momo wrappers are ready.
Vegetarian Filling
- Heat oil in a wok or heavy bottomed pan on a high flame. Add ginger and garlic and sauté for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Next add the onion and sauté till they become translucent. Add green chilli, cabbage and carrot, reduce flame to medium high and sauté for 3 minutes. Add soy sauce and sugar and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from flame and keep aside. Remember to cool down the mix before placing it inside the wrapper.
Wrapping and Pleating Momos
- Once the dough has rested, take it out of the bowl and knead it a few times. Make a hole in the centre of the dough with your finger. Then use your fingers to stretch out that hole in the centre. Keep stretching out the dough and rotating it until you get a large ring. Keep rolling out the rope until it is about 1 ½ inches in diameter.
- Now, cut out smaller pieces of dough, each weighing about 6-7 grams. This is about ½ tablespoon of dough. Take each piece of dough and roll it into a ball. Using the fleshy part of your palm, flatten each ball of dough into a disc, about ½ inch in diameter. Lightly dust each disc with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll out each individual piece into a very thin round wrapper. They need to be thin enough such that they appear to be slightly translucent. Thicker wrappers tend to taste very doughy so be sure to make it as thin as you can.
- Now place about a tablespoon of the prepared filling in the centre of the rolled out wrapper. Shape and seal the wrappers as shown in the video. In order to ensure that it is properly sealed, apply a little bit of water along the edges with your fingertip.
Steaming Momos
- Prep the steamer by adding water in the bottom container. Place the steamer on a flame and bring the water to a boil. Place the shaped momos in a steamer lined with parchment paper. Ensure that they are not sticking to each other. Cover the lid of the steamer and allow to steam for 6 minutes on a medium flame. Once done, remove from the steamer and serve immediately
Video
Notes
- Let the dough rest enough. If you don’t have enough time, you can use the dough after it’s rested for 20 minutes, at least. But the dough will be smoother and more springy if you let it rest longer.
- Work fast once the momo wrappers are rolled out. They dry out very fast, and it will become difficult to seal the momos later.
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The cooking time here is just for reference. Actual cooking time will depend on the heat, the type of stove you use, the size of the momos, and the amount of filling.
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Wrapped momos (uncooked) can be kept frozen for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container, separated by parchment paper.
Sushma says
how long can we keep the frozen momos ... please explain in details
Richa says
Frozen momos can be stored for up to 3 months
anmol gul says
thank you so much..
maida flour suppliers says
Wow looks yummy . Mouthwatering....
Cassandra Pereira says
From the time I’ve been following u
I’ve started trying a lot of recipes
Here’s another one I tried today
That’s Chicken Momos 😊
Richa says
Yay! Glad you liked it