Trying New Recipes to Get a New Life

As far as I am concerned, I get very bored of cooking! I wonder why ladies love so much to cook and describe what they prepared yesterday and last week and last month, and how it was appreciated. My experience is cooking is a thankless job. We ladies sweat a lot in the kitchen and others eat the food without even mentioning that it is nice to taste. It’s even more irritating when one of the male members in the family advises us how a certain dish could have been better if prepared in some hell way he knows. At last I have decided to give them all a damn and do something for myself! And I have found a great new way out – trying new recipes!

During my teenage, I used to try new recipes a lot, which I used to find in magazines, television cookery programs and other such traditional sources. It was a magical time when my mom used to tell everyone with pride that the dish had been made by me. Gone are those days of admiration and praises!

But once again I see a ray of hope in form of internet, where I can get lots and lots of recipes, which I can try not only every day, but even more than one every day! And they are from all over the world – from Thailand, Italy, Morocco, India, and even some countries like Norway, St. Lucia and Slovenia which I used to dream about like landing on the moon!

There are all kinds of soups, biryanis and pulavs, curries, kebabs, steaks, vegetable mixes, breads, chapattis, parathas and kulchas, chatanis, pickles, and desserts out there on the internet! The list is endless. What’s more, they also provide information about where can we get the alien ingredients and what alternatives can we make use of if we don’t get them. We can see photos of the dish taken from every angle and at every stage of preparation. Even we can see detailed videos of the preparation. What more can we expect?

We get information of new kitchen appliances. E.g. just last week I found that there is something called bread-maker. I never knew about it! Now it is so easy for me to make fresh clean bread at home. Similarly I found information about smokers and crockpot on internet and I got amazed like a child who finds a new exciting toy.

So, I have got a new life now. I make a new dish every day and I have actually seen a change in the regular scenario! My people are getting more enthusiastic about the meals! Who knows, they too were bored with the usual dishes and have got a new life now with my experiments! Having said that I give an unusual (for me) dish here with which you may be introduced to a new dish as well as to a new appliance. This is an utterly delicious Tibetan dish called momo. These are steamed or fried dumplings stuffed with meat or vegetables and cooked in a special cooker. And they are enjoyed piping hot with an equally yummy, tangy tomato sauce.

Ingredients

For dough:

500 gm all purpose flour

Water

For meat stuffing:

500 gm minced meat (traditionally meat of yak or water buffalo is used, but you can use your choice of meat)

1 cup of finely chopped cabbage

1 cup of finely chopped onion

1 tbsp minced ginger

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp freshly crushed black pepper

3 fresh red minced chilies (optional)

Salt to taste

For vegetable stuffing:

500 gm finely chopped cabbage

250 gm mushrooms

500 gm tofu, cubed

1 cup finely chopped onion

1 tbsp minced ginger

1 tbsp minced garlic

½ cup chopped coriander

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

½ tsp freshly crushed black pepper

1 tsp vegetable stock

¼ tsp turmeric

¼ tsp Timur (Szechwan pepper)

3 fresh minced red chilies (optional)

¼ tsp cinnamon

Salt to taste

For sauce:

3 large tomatoes

3 green chilies

1 capsicum (bell pepper)

1 cup chopped coriander

1 tbsp minced ginger

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

½ tsp crushed black pepper

Salt to taste

Method:

Once you collect all the ingredients, making momos is very easy.

Stuffing:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, possibly by hand. Keep it in fridge till use.

Dough:

Take the flour into a large pan and add ½ cup of water first. Then slowly go on adding water till you achieve smooth dough which sticks to itself and not to your hands. Keep kneading till it becomes very smooth.

Momo:

Roll out the dough on a floured surface up to the thickness of 1/8 inches or 3 mm. Cut rounds from the flattened dough using a cookie cutter or a glass.

Take one round on your palm and place enough stuffing in its center. Now hold a little part of the border of the round between your thumb and forefinger and pinch it. Keep on pinching the border till you come over again to the first pinched part. Now join all the pinched parts together on the head of the momo. Take care to seal it neatly. These are round momos.

Half-moon momos are even easier. Spread the filling over half of the round and fold the remaining half over it and join the borders. To make the job of pinching or joining the borders easier, wet your fingertips a little.

Steaming:

Take a steamer pot (if you don’t have a momo cooker) and brush the steamer basket lightly with oil so that momos don’t stick to it. Place momos keeping distance between them and from the border. Steam for 10 minutes.

Frying:

Take a frying pan and heat it over medium heat. Give a dab of oil on its bottom and place momos carefully on it. Fry till golden brown. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of water in the hot pan and cover quickly to finish momos by steaming.

Sauce:

Roast tomatoes, chilies and capsicum. You can do this either by cutting them in halves and putting them under a broiler till their skins blacken and split, or by putting them directly on an open flame.

Put all the sauce ingredients in a blender and blend till they turn into a smooth paste. Add a bit of water if required. Keep in fridge.

Serve momos piping hot either with the sauce poured over them or served separately.

Enjoy making and relishing such new dishes every day and you will start enjoying life again!