The favourite snack of most Delhiites today, momos can be found in every nook and corner of the city. From roadside stalls to small eateries and fine-dining restaurants, you would find momos on most menus these days. The fanfare for this dumpling-shaped snack has spread like wildfire in the capital in the past few years. In fact, during the pandemic, there was a major surge in Google searches for momos recipes too, given the amount of people trying their hands at it. I recall this one friend from college, who used to be a die-hard momos lover back then. However, she wasn’t interested in cooking at all.
Little did I know that this pandemic and period of social distancing would bring her closer to her kitchen. Starting with dalgona coffee and chilli paneer-noodles, her Instagram was full of food pictures. My curiosity made me keep a tab of her social media stories and one day, I saw a picture of well-shaped steamed momos with a fiery red chutney on the side. I was thrilled to see that she still liked momos and that was the point where we reconnected with each other and have remained in touch ever since.
Well, momos clearly had an emotional connection in my story but if you are simply a lover of momos, you better start making some at home too. Momos, for the unversed, are a Tibetan delicacy that were brought to India via the Northeast. The craze of this street snack spread from Sikkim and Mizoram to various parts of North India, and has now unapologetically become a part of Delhi’s street food fare today. Often, momos are confused with dimsums as the fancy version of this snack. There is definitely some difference between the two, the most important one being that dimsums are a larger category comprising everything from spring rolls to momos. So, it would be safe to say that all momos are dimsums but all dimsums are not momos.
Wait, we see your mouth watering just at the thought of momos. Get you spicy and hot chutney with some sweet mayonnaise in place, because we are about to unveil some of the best chicken momos to you.
1. Steamed Chicken Momos
As basic and simple as they can get, steamed momos are the most common ways of preparing momos. All you have to do is, prepare the chicken filling, roll out the dough and stuff it. Then wrap the dough around the filling in the desired shape. Oil the steamer and place your momos in it. Your steamed momos will be ready in a matter of a few minutes.
2. Fried Chicken Momos
These are my personal favourites. While the rest of the method of preparation remains the same, it is the final step which makes all the difference. Throw in your momos in preheated oil in the kadhai and deep-fry them till they turn golden-brown. Once you attain that crispy texture, dab them with some kitchen paper to remove excess oil and enjoy.
3. Chicken Momos Gravy
Bored of the dry momos? Try this gravy recipe then. The chicken-stuffed momos are steamed and post that, added to a pool of hot and tangy gravy made from tomato sauce, red chilli sauce, garlic and other spices.
