Mass Momo

As the children draped themselves around their room like drying laundry after their trip through Shivapuri National Park, I was getting a crash course in momo-making.

Momos are dumplings. The Nepalese love their momo joints the way Americans love their McDonalds--a dozen on each street and service in the billions. They mainly come in Buffalo, Chicken, and Veggie, though I have heard momo connoisseurs argue that a momo isn't a momo unless it's a meat momo. Another fun fact about momo is that "momo" is fun to say.

Today I will teach you how to make momo for sixteen school-children. I was taught by Sita Miss, the owner, proprietor, and CEO of Stephens International School.

Sita graciously adding to my meagre momo pile

First, roll out a simple dough of flour and water and use a drinking glass to cut out circles. Then, take a delicious mix of ground buffalo (or chicken or anything tasty), onions, cabbage, ginger, a bit of oil and salt, and put a hefty dollop on your small circle of momo dough. Here comes the part that requires technique. Take your dough and and pinch one end together with thumb and forefinger while holding the meat-dollop in place with your other thumb, like so:

also, make sure you are amusing some native Nepalese
as they watch a Kuirey (stupid foreigner) try to make a momo

Then, fumble around with the meat and dough to make sure it doesn't overflow when you eventually try to pinch it closed.

This step removes the amusement from Nepalese onlookers
and replaces it with a heap of pity and a pinch of disgust.

The next step is where the fun begins. With your "pinching" thumb, push your side of the dough-circle away from you while at the same time folding the other side with your other thumb and forefinger. This creates the ridges on your momo and also gives them their signature crescent shape.

Then, after about 5 or 6 folds, seal the momo by pinching it closed. Be over-proud of your momo and disregard the fact that the people around you have made five momo in the time it took you to make one.

Finally, the momo are steamed until delicious.

Asoke Sir and Sita Miss are a formidable momo making team. It is rumored that Asoke once forged 1,400 momo in one sitting.

The master at his craft

This is a very good thing, seeing as we had to make around four hundred last night. I actually ended up making some decent looking momo, after my initial 50 were recurrently referred to as "little potbellied rat-babies." The momo piled higher and higher--slighty higher on Asoke and Sita's side of the table until we had enough to feed the momo munching machines. The dinner bell rang, footsteps quickened toward the kitchen, and saliva dripped from the mouths of sixteen ravenous school children. Momo are a treat, a rarity among the endless trough of dal-bhat that comes from the kitchen day in, day out. They were eaten in silence, mouths too full to talk. They went upstairs, stomachs too full to play. They went to sleep, bodies too busy digesting mass momo to do anything else. A satisfying reward after a strenuous day of trekking the mysterious, historical Kathmandu Valley.