Where momo comes from, how it is served in Nepal and how to eat it.
Walk through any town in Nepal in the late afternoon and you will smell momo before you see it: tall aluminium steamers stacked on street-side stoves, plates of dumplings going out with a bowl of bright red chutney. Momo is Nepal’s favourite snack, a quick lunch, a party dish and the first thing many Nepalis abroad say they miss.
A momo is a small dumpling. A thin wheat dough is rolled into rounds, filled with a spiced mixture of meat or vegetables, then pleated shut, either into a half-moon or into a round purse gathered at the top. The dumplings are steamed until the dough turns soft and slightly translucent and the filling releases its juices.
What makes momo taste unmistakably Nepalese is the seasoning. Fillings are typically flavoured with onion, garlic, ginger, fresh coriander and warming spices such as cumin, and sometimes timur, the citrusy Himalayan pepper that gently tingles on the tongue.
Momo is eaten right across the Himalaya, from Tibet and Nepal to Bhutan, Sikkim, Darjeeling and Ladakh. Food historians usually trace it to Tibet, and the name is often linked to an old word for a steamed bun. The story most often told in Nepal is that Newar merchants from the Kathmandu valley, who traded with Lhasa for centuries, brought the dumpling home and made it their own with local spices. Over the twentieth century it spread from Kathmandu to every corner of the country.
Steamed momo is the classic, but in Nepal you will also find:
Momo almost always comes with achar, a dipping chutney. The best-known version is made from tomatoes, often with roasted sesame seeds, garlic, chilli and a little timur. It is tangy, nutty and as hot as the cook decides. Most of the heat of a plate of momo comes from the achar, not the dumplings themselves.
There is no ceremony. Pick a momo up with your fingers or a fork, dip or spoon over a little chutney and eat it in one or two bites. Momo is best eaten hot, while the filling is still juicy, so don’t let it wait.
At Namaste Gurkha in Birchwood, Lincoln, our Momo (7 pcs) is on the starters menu at £6.45: steamed dumplings with a spiced vegetable and/or chicken filling, served with tomato and sesame chutney. Ask us about the filling when you order.
Momo makes a great start before a Nepalese main such as khasi ko masu or lasuni kukhura, and it pairs well with lamb choila if you are sharing starters. You will find all of them on our menu, and you can read more about Nepalese grills in our guide to sekuwa and choila.
Good to know
They are close relatives: all are filled, folded dumplings. Momo is seasoned the Himalayan way, with garlic, ginger, coriander and warm spices, and it is served with a tomato and sesame chutney rather than soy-based dips.
The dumplings themselves are gently spiced. Most of the heat comes from the chutney served alongside.
Seven momo are £6.45, on our starters menu.
Delivery or collection from Birchwood, Lincoln. Tuesday to Sunday from 4:30pm.
Unit 8, Birchwood Shopping Centre, Jasmin Road, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN6 0QB
