Posted in Freshly Picked
Ginger, garlic and spices turn these humble veggies into a rich, aromatic filling — then just leave it to the spicy tomato dipping sauce to take these momos to the next level!
Prep:
1 hour 
cook:
30 mins 
Bragging Rights 
Mix the flour and water together and knead for 5 minutes. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Thinly slice the green cabbage, and fine dice the mushrooms, onion, garlic and ginger.
In a pan add the vegetable oil and place on high heat. When the oil is hot, add the chopped cabbage with a pinch of salt and fry for 3 minutes, stirring as little as possible (you're going for caramelisation, best achieved by letting the pan and hot oil do the work). Then add the onions, then mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms have released their water, and the water has been cooked out. Then add ginger, and lastly the garlic (garlic is most prone to burning so best added last here). Add another pinch of salt and stir to fry it all off. You are aiming for lots of colour on the cabbage and not really on the garlic or anything else. Cook for another 5 minutes.
Stir in the spices and cook for another 30 seconds, just long enough to remove the raw-ness of the spices and release their depth of flavour. Place the mixture into a tray to cool and wipe out the frying pan.
For the sauce, heat the oil in the same frying pan; add the can of tomatoes, water, soy sauce, malt vinegar, caster sugar, chilli and almonds and cook on medium heat until the mixture starts to bubble, then reduce the heat so it's not so bubbly and cook for about 15 minutes. Place the ingredients in a blender (or use a stick blender) and blend until smooth. Pour into a serving bowl and set aside. Back to the dough: Cut your dough in half and pat down on a folded bench. Place the dough into a pasta roller or use a rolling pin, folding the dough in half after each time you roll it. Lightly dust with flour if it begins to get sticky. Once you've got smooth, evenly flattened layers of dough, use a cutter (or even a mug!) to cut out your dumplings. Place a round of dough in the centre of your hand, and place a dessert spoon amount of mixture in the middle of the dough and folding one side onto the other, pinching and pleating one little fold over the next from one end to the other of the momo, until it is all connected.*
Place the dumpling in a steamer and steam for 5 minutes or until the pastry is cooked.
Serve with the red sauce and pat yourself on the back — you made something special! *Tip: If you're like most people trying to fold dumplings for the first, second, or even tenth time, you'll notice it isn't as easy as the pros make it out to be! (Yes, you CAN simply fold the momo in half like a taco and gently smush the edges together until it's properly sealed.) Check Youtube for instructional videos if you'd like, and remember that wonky momos are 'rustic' looking which is totally what you were going for ;)
