Chicken Momo in Soup

What better way to end 2014 than with Chicken Momos. I woke up today with absolutely no plans but to attend classes as usual, but then a friend called to make plans for lunch and she loves momos.

After a large mug of strong coffee I was up and about on my way to buy some freshly minced chicken from my butcher. We usually make beef momos at home but because Delhi has banned the slaughter of cows, beef is impossible to source. 

I decided to make everything from scratch to be as authentic as possible. I admit this recipe is a bit different from the usual filling you may find on youtube because most of them are made using chinese recipes for dumplings, but I promise you once you try this, there is no going back!! Most people are of the impression that chicken momos are dry and the filling is usually lumpy but worry not, this filling is going to solve your problem.

There are 3 elements to this dish:

• the momo/dumpling
• the soup
• the chutney

I am making this for 2 people so increase the portions by your own calculations.

The momo itself has 2 parts to it; the filling and the wrapper.

For the filling you need:

• 250 grams of minced chicken (use the thigh meat not breast meat as dark meat is juicier and won't dry out like breast meat)
• 4 medium sized red onions (chopped finely)
• half cup of olive oil/vegetable oil
• one tablespoon of mustard oil
• some ginger
• salt for seasoning. 

Mix all of these together but don't add the salt now as it will make the filling bleed water and will be difficult to work with later. Keep it aside.

For the wrapper you need: (you may use the gyoza/wonton wrappers available at the supermarket)

• one cup of refined wheat flour/all purpose flour (maida)
• one egg. (usually we don't add eggs but because the momos are going to be served in soup, I decided to enhance the flavor of the wrapper using eggs)
• a pinch of salt
• maybe some water (adjust as u knead)

After your filling is ready and kept aside, prepare the dough. To one cup of flour add a pinch of salt and crack an egg. Knead it for about 10 to 15 minutes till the dough is firm and does not stick to your hands.

Portion them into small pieces as shown below, I got exactly 30 pellets. Using a rolling pin, roll them out into thin circles and remember to dust some flour as you stack them up. I was pretty impressed with how thin I rolled mine out... they looked better than the ready made wonton wrappers available at the super market!!

Once they are ready, add salt to your filling and mix well... we are now ready to form the dumplings.

I usually just 'pinch and fold' to form them but u can give them any shape. (This blogpost was mostly about the simple yet tasty filling that people don't usually get right because too may recipes out there use too many ingredients.)

 This link may be useful  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvR-g2QRMfo (if the little girl in the video can do it so can you!!!)

 Grease your steamer with some vegetable oil and steam the dumplings for about 12 minutes. Once they are done remove them from the steamer and boil for 3-4 minutes in the soup you prepared.

The soup

• 500 grams of chicken backbone for making chicken stock.
• coriander leaves or some green onion leaves (depending on what you prefer)
• ginger.
• salt
• 3 cups of water.

Put all ingredients in a pressure cooker and keep it for 15 minutes on low flame after the first whistle. Strain and keep aside.

The chutney 

http://yangloo89.blogspot.in/2014/04/all-purpose-chilli-garlic-paste.html

you can either follow the recipe on the link or follow this 

• 2 medium sized tomatoes
• 3 pieces of dalle khorsani or cherry peppers (famous in Sikkim and Darjeeling for it's aroma and measures roughly around 500 scoville heat units according to the internet.)
• few cloves of garlic
• salt.

Boil the tomatoes and peppers in a cup of water, strain them, add the garlic and salt and make a paste using a blender....easy as that!!

Serve the momo soup hot with chutney.
Enjoy this with you family or friends. Goodluck in the kitchen and remember to cook from your heart.

Winter RiceBowl

Delhi in November just makes you crave for a bowl of warmth!! This recipe I want to share today is beautifully flavourful even though it really doesn't have as many aromatic vegetables and herbs and exotic spices that one would use to make a stock. Even though you can use any vegetable/chicken/beef stock available in the market and it won't kill you, I feel that this particular one is very pleasant with rice.

First marinate some chicken thighs in some ginger paste and soy and leave it in the fridge for about 2 hours in a zip pouch. Then shallow fry in vegetable oil (after a rinse) for about 20 minutes. This will seal the meat and cook them half way, ready for the next step( steaming)

Clean and prep some vegetables... I have used a carrot, some pumpkin and a radish.

 You can get creative here and cut them in cute shapes with a regular kitchen knife. I wanted all the vegetables to have different shapes so I did my best.

Place them in a steamer one deck above the chicken. 

Keep the chicken on for about 20 minutes. It took me around 6 to 7 minutes for these vegetables but I suggest you go by the colour (translucent like shown in the picture below) and not by my timing as there are too many variables(difference in density, shape, size, personal preference....)

Immediately place them in a bowl of chilled water (use ice cubes) to stop them from cooking further and becoming a mush.

Keep them aside in a clean bowl.

Use the shavings (result of shaping the vegetables!! nothing should go to waste), 2 red onions, two medium tomatoes, one thumb size ginger and some meaty flavour.
I have used shyachu ( home made dehydrated beef ) and a Chinese Pork sausage (any pork sausage which is sweet from star anise and salty). These can be substituted by chicken, beef or vegetable stock cubes.

I put all of the above ingredients into a pressure cooker with some salt, freshly ground black pepper, and 3 cups of water. Put it on high heat and after the first whistle, lower the heat and keep it on for about 15 minutes so that all the flavours from the meats and vegetables infuse.

You will see this, don't be alarmed and calmly strain the soup through a strainer into a larger pot. The red colour is from the tomatoes...I love it!!

Now, place the chicken thighs in the soup pot and let it soak up some of those flavours on low heat. At this point I like to add a handful of frozen peas into the soup just for a pop of green.

Prep your bowl, placing the hot steamed rice at the bottom and arrange those cute vegetables and a soft boiled egg. Gently remove the chicken from the soup and place it in the bowl.

Slowly pour the soup over the bowl of rice and vegetables and serve with homemade fresh chilli garlic paste. Click on this link to learn how  http://yangloo89.blogspot.in/2014_04_01_archive.html

Relish this simple and humble rice bowl on a cold day with your loved ones.
Enjoy and remember to cook from your heart!!

Grandma's Hishom phaley ( teatime snack)

It feels comforting to finally be able to sit alone and blog after a month long holiday. The past month has been nothing but a great learning experience in the kitchen with my family. Over the holidays, I tried my best to photo document some traditional recipes .... hopefully I still have pictures of all the steps...sorry for leaving out a few steps since #throwback shall be the word of November!!

Grandma's Hishom phaley is one of the few deepfried items out there that tastes good even when they cool down, unlike most. This reason makes it a good bread option to carry on family roadtrips. Best enjoyed with a hot cup of tea or a tall mug of your favourite coffee.

lets start with a small batch (just make sure to use the same size cup for all measurements)

• 2 cups of wholewheat flour/atta
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• one teaspoon of baking powder.(mix with flour when dry and use a sieve to mix well)
• 1 cup of clarified butter(ghee) or vegetable oil
• 2 eggs 
• Half a cup of water.
• 1 litre of vegetable oil for deep frying.
• one deep frying pan.

In a large bowl add the flour, powder sugar and baking powder. In another bowl mixthe oil, eggs and water. Then slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry and and knead it. Portion the dough into tennis ball sizes, put them aside and cover them .

I

Take them one by one and roll them out into small discs making sure that they are around 4 to 5 inches in diameter and about 6mm thickness (maximum up to 1 cm). Do this as you heat your oil in a frying pan.

 Next take a knife and make two slits to prevent the phaley from puffing up and also because this is how it is always made!!!

Once the oil is hot, I usually throw in a small piece of the dough to check the temperature since I don't have a kitchen thermometer (very easy, don't panic....these things come gradually with more experience, don't forget -glorious feasts were prepared even before science and technology made life easy.) If the test dough bubbles up immediately to the surface, we are ready... if there is too much smoke just lower the flame and wait for 2 minutes and try again.

If the oil is too hot, the phaleys will burn on the surface and still be raw at the centre. If the oil is not hot enough, they will absorb all the oil and be very soggy and sad. 

remember:

• As they go into the pan, the flame is on high
• Once they turn to golden from white and you flip them, flame is on medium high
• Once they are brown in colour as shown below remove them and put the flame on high for the next batch again.

Enjoy them hot or keep them away( after letting them cool to room temperature) in an air tight container. They should last for about a week, like in Sikkim (temperature is usually about 27 degrees Celsius and low humidity).

These taste great with a variety of combinations sweet and savoury!!

All the best and remember to cook from your heart <3

Aloodum, a favourite vegetarian snack in North Bengal (Kalimpong) and Sikkim is not an easy task. Everyone has their own recipe and each person has his/her own version of what perfect aloodum should be like. I have tried various permutations and combinations of flavours to achieve a simple, easy, cost and time effective recipe which is visually appealing and also tastes great. This aloodum is different from the dum aloo that you will find in North Indian and Bengali restaurants under vegetarian main course options.

Ingredients

• 1 kg of boiled potatoes ( I ask my vendor to give me pahari aloo, which is not sweet)
• 6 cloves of garlic
• dried red chilli
• mustard oil ( substitute with refined oil if you don't like mustard oil)
• 2 small red onions
• Haldi / tumeric powder
• artificial food colouring ( this is optional, I will explain why I use this*)

*the artificial food colour that I use is easily available and is most commonly used in red velvet cakes. The reason I use food colour for my aloodum even though I don't encourage using it too often is because I always get requests from friends to teach them how to make "rato ,peero aloo" meaning 'red and spicy aloo' in Nepali. I tried using red chilli powder in the past but it only made my aloodum extra spicy  in a very unpleasant manner and failed to impart a red colour into the dish. Hence, the artificial colour!! * remember this artificial colour is optional but I do recommend it, since no one likes pale yellow aloodum)

steps to boil the potatoes.

• place the medium sized potatoes  in a pressure cooker, jacket on and add water till all the potatoes are covered. 
• next put it on high heat and leave it till you hear the first whistle, then lower the heat, keep it on medium heat till second whistle and then turn it off. (depends on the size of the potatoes)
• open the cooker drain out the hot water and let the potatoes cool down slowly. It will continue cooking in it's own heat.
• Once cooled, peel and cut into bite size pieces as shown in the picture.

spice prep

• take some dried red chilly ( I used about 6 or 7) and boil it in quarter cup water for about 3 minutes after it comes to a boil.
• peel garlic cloves and add it to the boiled red chilly after removing it from the boiling water.
• make it a paste using hand blender or mortar and  pestle.
• slice the onion as shown in the picture.
  

Let's start

• Add some mustard oil into a non stick pan, once the oil heats up, throw in the onion followed by salt to taste (add enough salt for the potatoes) and Tumeric/Haldi (one teaspoon). The smell is amazing if you like mustard oil. (some people at this point like to add in some kala zeera/ black cumin seeds for additional flavour, I love it too, unfortunately I could not find it in my kirana store)
  
• once the onion  begins to turn golden, add the chilly garlic paste. ( be careful and switch on the exhaust to avoid sneezing like a maniac)
  
• Let that sizzle on medium heat for 30 seconds or so and add in a quarter cup of water and some food colour( I used about 4 or 5 drops). Let the sauce emulsify for about 2 to 3 minutes and throw in your diced potatoes.
  
• After this point, I toss the dish as a whole, holding the handles of the pan .... I try not to use a ladle or a spoon to do the stirring to avoid the potatoes from breaking up into a mash. Remember the potatoes are cooked already, so this stage just allows the potatoes to drink up the spice and the salt slowly on medium heat.
  
• let it cool down and then its ready to serve ( most of us enjoy this cold)
  

Great pairings: 

• Puri ( deep fried Indian bread).
• Sel Roti ( sweetened, deep fried rice bread)
• Regular bread.
• Simple egg fried rice.
• Phulka (or even pita bread)
• In Kalimpong, people enjoy it with thukpa (boiled noodles, drained and  mixed in the same spice paste and cooled down)
• Bhujiya ( popular Indian snack made from gram flour or besan)
• Fried Chura ( beaten rice, deep fried)
• I know some  friends who enjoy it with potato wafers/local chips...potato with potato :p)

I had some Oranges in my fridge.. so I made some orange water to cool down my stomach after this fiery affair!!

Enjoy and remember to cook from your heart!!