When hunger creeps in during the evening time, the first thing that would come to anyone's mind are these hot steamed momos which every street in India sells now. The love for momos is endless, be it any filling of your choice. It is a common sight to see a roadside vendor who would have prepared a bunch of different types of momo and be ready to serve quickly by heating them in a hot cylindrical steamer.
These small and intricately shaped filled wonton wrappers was first introduced as a street food in Tibet and then slowly moved on to other cold hilly places like Sikkim, Darjeeling, Assam, Ladakh, Bhutan & Nepal where it gained more popularity.
These wonderful dumplings are cooked in a steam pot or an idli steamer that helps to the draw the attention of the pedestrians who walk by their way, making it more appetising to try out their steaming hot dumplings. Having a plate of these mouth-watering dumplings with a spicy red chilli dip in this cold weather is sensational.
Most of the people in India associate momos to North East and Dim-sums to Chinese Cuisine. Both share the same process of making but varies in the type of filling that they stuff it in with and the wrapper that they use. In china, the story of dim-sums was originated in Cantonese region. It is considered as a famous bite sized snack prepared in China mainly served in restaurants. Generally it is served in a small bamboo steamer basket. These are taken on a trolley so that it can be served immediately to the guests without leaving their seats.
The word Dim sum is translated from Chinese which means "Touch to the Heart". It is usually linked to "Yum Cha" which means drinking tea. As in the olden days the travellers used to rest near the roadside, they were offered tea along with dim sum and thus the tradition began.
Dim sum are generally stuffed with barbecued pork (Char Siu) or minced prawns. The vegetarian option would be shredded vegetables or tofu.Momos also have the similar type of filling but the flavours are simple and flavoured with soy sauce and red chilli sauce.
One of the classic sauces that the momos are served along with :
Here we have added few of our momo recipes with our favourite filling, do give it a try for this monsoon season.
