Native from Tibet, this round and bouncy delicacy was by far our favorite dish during our stay in Nepal! Tatup is proud to present, the momo!
Some people might tell you momo are just Asian dumplings made from rice flour. The purists, however, will recognize the wheat flour in the Nepalese variant.
I had the honor or being invited into the kitchen of the best momo restaurant in Thamel (Kathmandu): the Gillingche.
The base of the dish consists of laminating little pieces of dough with a stainless steel rolling pin, the foundation of the momo if you will.
Various fillings are then possible. We obviously focused on the vegetable ones!
Shapes and forms may also vary. Here, the classical momo.
And there, more elaborate versions:
Of course served with a spicy coco sauce!
Once prepared, momos are steamed.
Another possibility, shown here, is the great momo-sizzler: the steamed cooked momos are then served on a very hot cast iron plate.
Caught up in the moment, I suggested to the manager we try a sweet version of momos. We left for the farmer’s market to try and find fruits.
We then spent the day carefully trying and tasting, creating the banana/chocolate momo, along with another pineapple/honey/raisins (the ones that I recall at least).
Amazing memories of human warmth. Our next stop, Thailand!
Sadly 2 weeks after leaving, the earth shook in Nepal, destroying the Guillingche (thankfully without harming anyone). A lot of the crew had to change job sadly. Some of them have seen it as an opportunity to travel, such as our friend Arjun, kitchen chef, who left for Australia.
The restaurant itself has apparently been rebuilt in an other location, under another franchise.
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