Dumplings

I have always been a fan of momos. There was a wave a few years back where every eatery had some version of momos along with samosas and puffs. I was fascinated by how such a simple dish can taste so good. Recently I got a chance to attend a dumpling making social for the lunar new year and ended up making some filling and a bunch of momos. I loved the process and wanted to make my own version. The recipie here is just for the filling and any dumpling wrapper from the nearest grocery store works.

Ingredients

Vegetarian Version

  • Coriander : 1 bunch
  • Onion : 1 ct ( if small take two )
  • Romaine Lettuce : 1 ct
  • Paneer or Tofu : about 500 gm
  • Carrots : 3 ct
  • Pepper and Salt : as required
  • soy sauce : 2 tablespoon

Non Vegetarian Version (NV)

all the vegetarian stuff +

  • Chicken Thighs : 1.5 Kg
  • A sharp knife to cut through the meat

Preparation

  • The main part involves chopping and incorporating all the ingredients into good filling. Instead of considering this as a step by step instruction, you can add or remove your favourite ingredients as you please.

Vegetarian Version

  • First Chop the onions and carrots into very fine pieces ( You can skip the carrots if you are making the NV version) . The finer the pieces the better incorporated they will be.
  • Chop up the Paneer into cubes and warm them in hot water for about 5 mins, if the paneer is hard, and then break it up with your hand and add it to the onion and carrots. ( Same process with firm Tofu )
  • next chop up the romaine lettuce into extremely thin strips and into tiny pieces. This will help hold the other ingredients together.
  • Now add required amount of Soy Sauce and pepper + salt and mix the ingredients till they are thoroughly mixed. Finally mince required amount of Coriander and add it to the filling mixture.

Non-Vegetarian Version

  • For this version, The first thing we will need to do is mince up the chicken into extremely fine mince.
  • This can be done using a Food Processor, but I like to chop them up myself with knives.
  • Add about 2 teaspoons of salt and Cut the chicken into small blocks. Go around each part mincing it with the knife Going in a sea-saw like motion and creating smaller and smaller pieces. ( Apparently this releases the myosin in meat giving it the gloopy texture. )
  • Next chop up the Romaine lettuce into thin streaks and make sure to remove all the water from it. This ensures that our filling has no additional water content.
  • Then chop the onion into extremely thin pieces and then add it along with the lettuce into the meat mince.
  • Now add enough pepper and soy sauce into the mix and then mix all the ingredients together going in a clockwise motion with a soft spatula.

And that’s it! the filling can now be stored in the fridge or wrapped into Dumplings right away. I also found that wrapping the dumplings and then freezing them for later also works perfectly fine. The filling can also be made to include all sorts of vegetables or removing Paneer/Tofu if you’re not a fan. Personally I want to try making the veg filling with potatoes getting the same filling consistency as the NV one.