Momos are a famous street food made out of vegetables, meat and maida. They are relished along side spicy dips that are made from red chillis, tomatoes and garlic. Momos come in a large variety, right from fried momos to curried ones. While this street food might not be healthy in its original avatar, it can be given a healthy and nourishing twist. One of the easiest way to do this is by making aata momos instead of momos made from maida. However merely replacing the flour won’t do. To make the momo inherently nourishing, one needs to make sure that the filling is full of fresh and fibrous vegetables and fruits. Did we just say fruits? Yes you read that right. 

Credit: Pixabay.

 

In a recipe twist to the legendary momo, jackfruit is used and cooked in the authentic nepali style as part of the filling, to make an extremely nutritious and fibrous momo that is in equal parts - healthy and tasty. Here’s a recipe of the jackfruit momo that you must try out in your next cooking escapade: 

For the filling

  1. 250g of shredded Jackfruit
  2. 150g of finely chopped cabbage
  3. 1 cup of grated carrot 
  4. 1 whole spring onion, finely sliced
  5. Grated ginger 
  6. 1tsp ground coriander seeds 
  7. Salt
  8. oil
  9. 1 tsp cornflour

For the dough:

  1. 300 g plain flour
  2. 140ml warm water
  3. 1/2 tsp salt

For the chutney:

  1. 4 large whole tomatoes 
  2. oil
  3. 2 large cloves garlic - peeled and chopped
  4. 2 hot red chillies 

Method: 

To make the filling:

  1. Shred the jackfruit into thin strands. Put the shredded jackfruit in a bowl and mix it with cabbage, carrot and spring onion. Sprinkle salt and mix the filling thoroughly using your hands. 
  2. Rest the filling for 40 minutes. Once done, squeeze as much water as you can out of the filling. Return the squeezed vegetables to the bowl and stir in the coriander seeds, ginger and salt. 

Make the dough and fold the momos: 

Also Read
  1. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl and gradually add the water. Knead the dough with your hands until smooth and elastic. Cover with a damp tea towel and rest for 10 minutes. Once rested, divide the dough into 30 equal balls. 
  2. Next, roll out each ball of dough into a thin circle. Dust with a sprinkle of cornflour and repeat for the remaining circles. 
  3. Once the filling is ready, hold one cut out circular sheet of the dough in the palm of your left hand. Fill the sheet with 3 teaspoons of the filling, focusing the filling as tightly as you can into the centre of the circle. Use your finger to wet the outer edges of the circle. Pleat the edges of the circle around the filling. Continue to pleat the edges in this way all the way around the filling. Gently pinch and twist the wrappers in the centre to cover the filling and close the momo completely. Repeat for the remaining momos.
  4. To cook the momos, you will need a special device called macktoo which is basically a momo steamer. The momos are placed in the macktoo after it is oiled. Water is poured in the lower part of the vessel and the momos are cooked by the steam of the boiling water. 

For the chutney: 

  1. Heat oil in a pan and add garlic and chilli and fry for a few seconds. Next, boil the tomatoes in water with salt. Once the tomatoes are boiled, take their skin off. Put the garlic, chilli and tomatoes in to a blender and blend to a smooth paste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.