Momo (food)

• 1. Introduction

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  Momo is a steamed, filled dumpling at the heart of Nepalese and Tibetan cooking. Neighbouring Bhutan and India have taken it up as well. A plate of momos usually arrives with a dipping sauce, and the dish carries more open questions than its size suggests. Where does the name come from? Did the recipe climb from the Kathmandu Valley into Tibet, or come down the other way? Who carried it across mountains and onto the plains of India? And how did one small dumpling end up with so many fillings, shapes and cousins?

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• 2. A Borrowed Name

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  The word momo is only a phonetic spelling of the Tibetan མོག་མོག, which is pronounced roughly as mog mog. That Tibetan word may itself be borrowed. In northwestern Chinese dialects, momo (馍馍) is the traditional name for wheat steamed buns and bread. The syllable mo (馍) covers foods made from wheat flour, including mantou (馒头), the plain steamed bun.

  For a long time, Chinese names for steamed buns did not separate those with a filling from those without. That changed with the word baozi (包子), which emerged during the Song Dynasty between the tenth and thirteenth century. In eastern regions such as Jiangsu and Shanghai, mantou still carries both meanings today.

  Dumplings themselves were already popular in China during the Southern and Northern dynasties, which ran from 420 to 589 AD. Dumplings dated between 499 AD and 640 AD were found in the Astana Cemetery in what is now northwestern China. Those buried dumplings sit far from the Kathmandu Valley, where the next part of the story turns.

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• 3. Disputed Journeys

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  Legend credits Bhrikuti, a Nepali princess of the 7th century, with bringing momos to Tibet. She is the woman who introduced Buddhism there. Most accounts favour a different carrier. The idea of the dumpling is generally believed to have travelled from China with the Mongols in the 13th century.

  The Himalayan momo has its own timeline. Its history in Nepal reaches back to as early as the fourteenth century, much like the history of Korean mandu. Nobody knows for certain whether the dish spread from the Kathmandu Valley to Tibet or the other way around.

  The Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley first made the dish popular. That has led to a widespread belief about its path. Newar merchants who traded in Tibet may have learned the recipe there and brought it back to Nepal.

  Tibetan momos were typically filled with meat such as yak, and occasionally with potatoes and cheese. Their dough was thicker than the Nepalese kind, and they used little to no spice apart from salt. The next great change came when momos left the mountains for the Indo-Gangetic Plains.

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• 4. Down to the Plains

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  The Indo-Gangetic Plains changed what went inside. Chicken became the more common meat. Cooks introduced mixed vegetable momos to feed the large population of vegetarian Hindus.

  In 1959, a Tibetan uprising sent a large number of Tibetans into India. They brought their momo recipes with them.

  A second movement is suggested but unproven. The civil war in Nepal may have pushed the Nepali diaspora to seek a livelihood in India. The dates and the casual references to momos in everyday speech support the idea. If it is right, it would help explain why Himalayan-style momos became so common in the southern half of India, especially in Chennai and Bangalore.

  The oldest Tibetan momos were built from very different ingredients than any of these.

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• 5. Barley to Paneer

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  The earliest Tibetan dumplings wrapped beef and mutton in a covering of highland barley flour. Nowadays a simple dough of white flour and water is generally preferred. Cooks sometimes add a little yeast or baking soda to make the finished dumpling more doughy.

  Ground meat, potatoes and leek made up the traditional filling. Today the choices are far wider. Cooks use virtually any mix of ground meat, vegetables, tofu, mushrooms, paneer cheese and soft chhurpi, a local cheese.

  Regional taste decides the meat. In Nepal, Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan, pork, chicken, goat and water buffalo are common. In the Himalayan parts of Nepal and India, lamb and yak are more usual. The minced meat is combined with onions or shallots, garlic, ginger and cilantro. Some cooks add finely puréed tomatoes and soy sauce.

  Nepal also has a long list of vegetable fillings. Finely chopped cabbage, carrot, soy granules and potato all appear, along with flat bean (lilva kachori) and chayote (iskush). Eastern Nepal favours fresh paneer or soft chhurpi. In the Kathmandu Valley, momos filled with milk solids and sugar, known as khoa, are a popular dessert.

  The dough is rolled into small flat circles. The filling is closed inside either as a round pocket or as a half-moon crescent. Fatty meat is preferred because it makes the momos juicy and flavourful, and a little oil sometimes keeps lean meat moist. The dumplings steam over a stock made from bones or vegetables, in a utensil called a mucktoo. Some are pan-fried or deep-fried afterwards.

  Once the dumpling is cooked, the sauce is where the kitchens of the region part ways.

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• 6. Sauces and Soups

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  In Tibet, momos are usually served with chilli garlic sauce and pickled daikon. Nepal prefers tomato-based chutneys, or sauces called achar made from sesame, peanut or soybean. Depending on the eatery, a sauce may be thick or thin.

  Sometimes the dumplings go straight into a bowl. Jhol momo (झोल मोमो) is a Nepali soup in which momos sit in a spicy vegetable broth called jhol achar. That broth contains tomatoes, sesame seeds, chillies, cumin and coriander. It is commonly eaten in Kathmandu in the winter.

  Tibet has its own soup version, called mokthuk. It is a variation of the noodle soup thukpa that uses small momos. Soup is only the start of the momo's relatives, and some of them have no filling at all.

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• 7. The Wider Family

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  C-momo is steamed or fried and then served in chili sauce. Dhapu momo takes its name from the Chinese da bao (大包), meaning big bun. It is also known as Tibetan momo, and it is a Nepali dumpling that is usually larger and flatter than other versions. It may have reached Nepal by two routes. One ran through Myanmar along the eastern Himalayas. The other came with Chinese immigrants to Kolkata, India, one or two hundred years ago.

  Kothey momo borrows from the Chinese guotie (锅贴), a pan-fried dumpling. It is filled with meat, vegetables and spices, steamed first and then fried, and served in a dipping sauce. Gonga momo (སྒོ་ང་མོག་མོག) is a fried dumpling of wheat and egg dough filled with meat paste.

  Green momo is a steamed vegetarian dumpling stuffed with vegetables, cabbage and green beans. Hoentay, from Bhutan, wraps spinach and cheese in a buckwheat dough. Open momo is another Nepali addition. It has holes on top, where cooks can add sauces and spices.

  Sadheko momo turns the dumpling into a salad with onions, tomatoes, herbs and spices. Shoko momo (ཞོག་ཁོག་མོག་མོག) is a Tibetan version that mixes mashed potato into the dough. The dough is shaped into balls around a minced meat filling and served with bread crumbs. Shamo (ཤ་མོག) is a Tibetan dumpling stuffed with beef or mutton.

  Tingmo (ཀྲིན་མོག) is a steamed bread made from flour, yeast and water. It is soft and fluffy and is served with savoury dishes such as stews or curries. Unlike every other relative here, it holds no filling at all.

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