Steamed Vegetable Momos - Dedicated to KV Reunion Friends!

I was super excited when my husband booked our tickets to go to Sikkim in February this year (yeah... that was my Valentine Gift)!  It was his 2nd college re-union this year again with his friends.  The last reunion was in 2016 when the 7 friends the backbenchers in junior college met in Goa and had a ball of a time together!   This time the plan was to introduce the families too!

A Whatsapp group was formed where the friends and family members were added and we started communicating with each other well before the trip... this definitely gave me an idea of the new faces I would be meeting during this trip...

Our journey started from Mumbai on 19th May 2017 where we spent time with Pooja & Prashant (an adorable couple) who made us feel at home...Late in the evening, Renuka, arrived in Mumbai.. She had come down from Goa to join us in this trip. We were soon chatting with each other as if we knew each other since ages!

Our tour advisor & organizer Rajesh Basak took all the efforts to ensure that all the arrangements at Sikkim were in place right from hotel reservations, to and fro transport etc.  Moyna & Prashant also helped him finalize the logistics...Moyna was our Accounts Manager and Prashant captured all the beautiful moments that we all spent together during our 7 day tour to this exotic location!

We all reached the Bagdogra Airport and travelled in a bus to Gangtok together... We were 21 of us travelling in this bus... for some time all of us enjoyed the raw beauty of nature and settled down... After some time  there was so much chaos and noise that we all made by singing and playing dumb charades... we just did not realize how time flew and we had reached Five Elements - De Villa Hotel (a much recommended hotel) at Gangtok that we stayed... Great Staff, excellent service & hospitality and lip smacking food... I and Krishna used to have long chats during our morning walk amidst the nature. We also joined together to celebrate the wedding anniversary of Jay & Lakshmi!  We all had a big surprise when we were gifted with our family member's sketches made by Kadir, Krishna's hubby... who is a great artist. It was great to meet Siva, a lawyer by profession but a very silent and warm person... All the 7 kids, did not take much time to interact with each other.

We had gone to Nathula Pass on one of the days... It was at an altitude of 14000 ft... The journey was long and it was getting colder by the time we reached the heights.. We all were in our winter clothing... There were mild showers too!  We took darshan at   Major Baba Harbhajan Singh  Mandir. Jerome (fondly known as Joe) was posted to this location when he served the army..  he gave us all the detailed information of this location.  He spoke the local language too which was very fascinating!

It was lunch time...we were very hungry now...and were bored snacking on the snacks that we carried with us.  We wanted to eat something hot...A plate of hot Momos on a cold winter day was one of the most perfect combos. We enjoyed the soft delicate refined flour dumplings filled with a delicious mix of sautéed vegetables which was served with piping hot spicy dipping sauce. I am not sure how many Momo's we all ate... but we had finished all the Momo's that the old lady had made :)

I tried making Veg Momos just 2 days after we reached Pune and am dedicating this dish to the KV Friends Sikkim Reunion.

Ingredients :

• Refined flour 1 cup
• Carrot finely chopped 1 medium
• Cabbage - half finely grated
• Spring onions finely chopped 
• Ginger finely chopped 1 inch piece
• Garlic - 4 to 5 chopped into thin slices
• Black peppercorns crushed 8-10
• Soy sauce 1/2 tablespoon
• Sugar & Salt to taste
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Coriander leaves / Spring Onion Greens
• Vinegar - 1 tbsp

 Method :

Mix the refined flour with five tablespoons of water and knead into a stiff dough. Add a little oil and again knead the dough. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside for fifteen minutes.

 

For the filling, combine the carrot & cabbage in a large bowl.  In a pan, heat the oil on high heat, add the cut ginger & garlic to this.  Add the spring onions and saute well.  Add sugar, salt and soy sauce and Vinegar put off the gas.  Once it cools, add the vegetables to it and mix well.  Add the pepper and coriander leaves and mix well and keep aside.

 

Divide the dough into sixteen equal portions and roll into small thin discs. Place a spoonful of the vegetable filling in the centre of each disc and bring the sides together in the centre, pinching firmly together to form a dumpling.

 

In the steamer, cover and steam the Momos for eight to ten minutes, until the Momos are cooked well. Transfer to a serving plate. Garnish with spring onion greens and serve hot with Schwezan sauce or the Spicy Hot Chilli Chutney!