Now you taking me back to college, love interests, and Koregaon Park lane 7.

I used to eat momos with this girl (who I liked) from my college almost every day near her house. The momo guy had a thela, only in the evenings.

A year after things went sour with the girl, I introduced these momos to my colleagues. Then it became a team tradition to get momos as evening snacks.

It’s been years since then. Now I go to my friend’s restaurant for momos. I am warming up to the franchise Wow Momo. I even made my mother make momos last week.

Life and people changed, but momos have been constant.

My experience making and eating momos:

  1. During the brief time I spent in engineering college, I secretly (don’t worry, he doesn’t follow me) crushed over the boy, now man, who requested these momos. I would become the heart-shaped eyes emoji when he spoke in call or won a basketball match, I may have even tried to read a shit book when I found out he loved it, while he, now I find out, was having momos with his crush in a faraway land! Is retrospective jealousy a thing?
  2. I had a beautiful time making these momos. I was alone in the kitchen but babyR, R, mumma and dadi lingered around making stuff of their own, playing, at one point gossiping and laughing. My Folk Song playlist played in the foreground; I hummed as I assembled the momos.
  3. Dadi and kaki have not tasted/feel aversive towards momos because it’s steamed maida. They tasted momos and loved it.
  4. I like to believe that the best momos are made and sold by this Nepali guy in Vimannagar (Pune). I found him while I was in college. R and I would make a meal out of momos, chicken tikka and watermelon juice. It was so pocket friendly. We continue to go there are eat momos, tikka, juice years after we have passed out and are under no obligation to bear with Vimannagar traffic.

Recipe

Ingredients
Maida – half bowl
5-6 cloves of garlic
Salt
Pepper
Soy sauce
1 carrot
A portion of cauliflower
A portion of cabbage
1 Onion/ 2 spring onions
+ whichever vegetable you have available and could complement the momo

Steps

  1. Take maida, a little bit of oil, salt, water and kneed it. It should be tight and not sticky.
  2. Finely chop all the vegetables. I just stuck them all in a food processor.
  3. In a pan, take 2 tsps of oil and saute the garlic and onions for half a minute.
  4. Add the chopped vegetables and stir for 5 minutes
  5. To this add salt and very little soy sauce (I add 1/4th tsp or less). Stir and let for till the vegies look soft and golden.
  6. Now make equal sized small balls of the maida (it helps to roll it into a long-ish pipe like role and cut equidistantly)
  7. Roll each ball into a flat circle such that it is thicker in the center and thin at the edges. Don’t bother with how round the shape is.
  8. Dab a little water on the edges of this flat round and gather it, either into a modak or a karanji shape (such Marathi references, I know)
  9. Now you steam these. I was lucky to have found a steamer at home but if I hadn’t I would have used an idli pan in a cooker. Fill the bottom with a little water, place the momos on the pan, shut the lid, and let steam for 7-ish minutes, till the skin of the momos gets transparent. And you are done.

Recipe for the spicy tomato chutney: https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/momos-chutney-recipe-veg-momos-chutney/

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