Tandoori Momos: Monsoon Companion

Well it's been a while since my last post. Have been shifting cities or rather countries and setting up the kitchen takes some time. Good art it's done and I can have a gas stove now so cooking is a bit easier. To kick-start the 'weekend experiments' tried making some tandoori momos.

Momos have been savored by all of us for ages. Tandoori momos is a relatively new phenomenon but has picked up really well. Pretty easy to make and tastes good with a coriander chutney.

Ingredients: There are 3 steps to making the momos. Firstly, preparing the dough. Secondly the filling, you can use a cabbage filling or a chicken filling. Lastly, the tandoori coating to be given to them.

Dough: Refined flour - 2 cups; Salt - 1 tea spoon; Warm water - 1/2 cup.

Filling: Chicken ( shredded) - 150 gms; Onion ( grated) - 1 medium; Ginger ( grated) - 2 inch; Pepper - 1 tea spoon; Spring onion greens ( finely chopped) - 2; Oil - 1 tea spoon; Dark soya sauce - 1.5 tea spoons

Tandoori Coating: Roasted bengal gram - 6 table spoons; Salt - 1 tea spoon; Chat masala - 1 tea spoon; Kasoori methi - 1 tea spoon; Kashmiri red chilli powder - 1 tea spoon; Black salt - 1 tea spoon; Garam masala - 1 tea spoon; Lemon (juice) - 1 medium; Red food colour - 1 pinch; Coriander leaves ( finely chopped) - 2 table spoons; Ginger garlic paste - 1 tea spoon; Curd - 6 table spoons; Mustard oil - 4 table spoons

The tandoori coating used here can be used in other preparations as well - tandoori paneer; tandoori chicken etc.

Steps:

i. Prepare the dough for the momos; make a semi-stiff dough and cover it with damp cloth for 15-20 minutes.

ii. Saute the chicken for 5 minutes on low flame along with other ingredients excpet soya sauce. Ensure that chicken is not turning white and is still tender.

iii. Mix the dark soya sauce well into the chicken and let it sit for 5 minutes.

iv. Roll small 'puri' sized shapes for the momo.

v. Put 1 teaspoon of filling inside and close them to give the desired shape.

vi. The momos can be made of various shapes so pick one which suits you best .

vii. Put oil in a pan and let it become very hot. Now fry the momos in the oil for 2-3 seconds. As the momos are very tender this will help them from breaking when we are grilling them on a gas stove (tandoor).

vii. Mix all the ingredients for the tandoori coating except mustard oil.

viii. Heat the mustard oil until it becomes smoking hot and mix it well in the tandoori mixture.

ix. Now carefully drop all the momos into the tandoori mixture and coat them well. Use your hand to ensure that they don't break.

x. For the grilling ( tandori effect) you can use your gas stove and skewers. If you are using bamboo skewers then soak them in water before you start preparation for the momos. I used bamboo skewers.

xi. Skewer momos into the bamboo skewer and grill the momos over the gas stove. You can plaae a mesh over the flame to allow even distribution of heat. Ensure that the momos are grilled from all sides.

xii.Sprinkle some chaat masala and lemon juice over the memos if you want to. This will enhance their flavours.

Serve the yummy momos with some coriander chutney and onion salad on the side. Sit back and enjoy !!!