Native to Tibet and Nepal, momos are little steamed dumplings, made in a very similar way to the Chinese jiaozi . The momos in this recipe are filled with delicately spiced minced chicken and served with an addictive pickled chilli chutney.
Note: you will need to begin this recipe the day before you want to eat, as the chillis need to soak overnight.
To make the chutney, add the chillies to a small bowl and pour over the vinegar. Leave to soak for at least 12 hours, ideally overnight. Place the chillies and vinegar (which will have been mostly absorbed) in a food processor, along with the onion, tomatoes, garlic and a large pinch of salt. Process until smooth. Taste, adding a little more salt if needed and some black pepper. Scoop into a small bowl and set aside at room temperature.
To make the filling, place the chicken in a food processor and pulse until chopped. Add the onion, spring onion, garlic, cumin, nutmeg, coriander, ½ teaspoon salt and a little black pepper and pulse until you have a smooth paste. Scoop into a bowl, cover and chill for at least an hour for the flavours to develop; overnight is fine.
To make the dumpling wrappers, follow the jiaozi instructions here , including rolling out, but the folding is different, so stop once you’ve rolled out 40 wrappers. Line up 10 wrappers in 2 rows on a lightly floured worktop. Have a little bowl of cold water handy, along with a plate of flour to dip the finished momos in.
Put a teaspoon of filling in the centre of each wrapper. Take one, placed either in the palm of one hand or in front of you on the worktop, and dab a little water around one half only. Begin to make tiny pleats around the filling, drawing the folds up to the top so they meet in the centre and stick together. Once you have pleated all the way round, give the pleats a little twist together in a clockwise direction to completely seal in the filling. Dip the base into the plate of flour and line up on a baking tray. Repeat with the remaining 9 wrappers, then lay out the next 10 wrappers and repeat. Do this until you have used up all 40 wrappers and filling. You can freeze them at this point: space them out on a baking tray to freeze initially, then pack them into a bag or tub and freeze until ready to cook.
When you are ready to cook, line the base of a large bamboo steamer with a circle of baking parchment, and tuck all the dumplings inside, snugly but not touching each other. You may need to cook in 2 batches depending on the size of your steamer. Set over a wok of simmering water, making sure the water is lower than the bottom of the steamer, and cover with the lid. Steam for about 5–6 minutes, until the dumpling wrappers look translucent. If cooking from frozen, add 2–3 minutes to the cooking time. Serve with the pickled chutney alongside.
