There's A New Momo In Town. Fast, Easy Dumplings For A Crowd

   I'm Italian. Growing up in my household, Momo meant one thing and it wasn't the Museum of Modern Art. Momo evoked images of a guy in a camel hair coat with a Cuban planted firmly in the corner of his mouth. Not a very nice guy. Not somebody you wanna mess with. Definitely not someone you wanna bring to a party. Capische?!

Old Momo

New Momo

   Flash forward and after 21 years of cooking my way through all sorts of Indian dishes, a few years ago I discovered momo. Now this momo is actually a dumpling that hails from Tibet and has worked it's way down into India. Turns out there is a franchise chain called Momo Station based out of Mumbai which is getting very popular. So there's that. Short of getting on Air India and zooming over to Mumbai, or investing about 200,000 rupees to start one of your own, wouldn't it be great to be able to make some fresh homemade momo anytime you want them? It's easy. I mean really, really, really easy. I am not kidding.
  When I first made momo I went old school. I made momo dough by hand and rolled it out and filled my momo. That was good. Then I went and planned a party where I was going to serve A LOT of momo. I made my momo filling. I made my momo dough. People started arriving. I couldn't work fast enough. It was like that old I Love Lucy episode but instead of chocolates there were momo.

   I couldn't keep up. There was no way this was going to work. Alan and I were busy with guests and food. So I called Mr. X who hadn't arrived yet and said  "Help!! Stop at a market on the way here. Bring me won ton wrappers stat!" He did. Two large packages.
   Paula Wolfert was at the house that night.  She grabbed one of the first momo right out of the steamer and said it was good.
   Later she came up to me in the kitchen and said, "Did you change something from the first momo I had?"
   "Uh....yes," I said. (Damn caught!I)  "I used wonton wrappers from the store for the later ones."
  "Ah" she said, "because the first ones had chi. The others taste great, but the dough doesn't have chi"
  Chi pronounced chee is the natural energy of the universe. In other words, vital. Alive. That is what you get when you roll your dough by hand, cut it out and fill your momo.  I will tell you how to do that. The other way for a crowd, is fast and also delicious and for those who want a quick and tasty snack on the party tray, a miracle of ease. Here's what to do:

 Momo Filling
  There are a lot of fillings that one can use for momo, both meat and veg. Since most of what I serve are vegetarian snacks, I always offer some chicken or shrimp momo, so that's what I'll tell you about.

 Filling for 

Shrimp Momo

 Place 1lb of fresh cooked small bay shrimp in a food processor and grind it to a rough paste.
 Mix in:
  A few Thai basil leaves (or regular basil) finely chopped
  1 shallot very finely chopped
  1/2 tsp of salt or to taste
  1 tsp of kashmiri chili or 1/4 tsp each of cayenne and paprika
  1 tsp of ground coriander
  A pinch of cardamom
    Mix it all together well.
 The chicken momo mix is the same. Just ground chicken meat. Grind it a bit more in a food processor so you have a rough paste.

 Making the Momo
 Open a package of won ton or sue gow wrappers
 Drop 1 tsp of filling into the center of each and then twist and pinch it closed at the top like a little purse.

 Put a pot of water on to boil.
 Spray the levels of a bamboo steamer with non-stick spray and place the momo on them.
 Cover the bamboo steamer and place it on top of the pot of boiling water.

Let the momo cook for about 10 or 12 minutes. You are done.
Serve them up with a nice chutney or dipping sauce.

   This recipe will make a lot of momo. If you're serving them at a party along with other stuff, this will make about 30 or so. I didn't really count as I didn't get but one, they were gone that fast.

   For purists like me who want to make just a few momo but with the real deal dough for steaming, here's what to do:
 
 Momo Dough
 For a basic momo dough, mix together:
  3 and 1/2 cups of flour
  1/2 tsp of salt
 When it's well mixed add in:
  About 1 cup of room temperature water.
  Add the water a little bit at a time. If it gets too moist just add a bit more flour to firm it up. Knead it for about 5 minutes or so until It becomes nice and elastic.
  Roll it into a ball and set it aside in a bowl. Cover it with a damp cloth and let it rest for about 30 minutes. That's it. Very simple... except when you're expecting a herd of people. One great thing about this momo dough is that it can be frozen for momos later, momos all the time, any time you want them.
 Here's one final momo.

Worlds' Largest Momo Found in Sonoma

  If you like these momos, cruise on over to Food 52 and give me some love. I've entered a contest over there featuring dumplings.
  Meanwhile, back in Sonoma, we're smack in the middle of the Sonoma International Film Festival. Alan and I are on the Festival Jury so we've been watching a lot of films. Tomorrow we'll be going down to the Plaza to check out all the food and wine and movie action. Tomorrow night is also the big Gala and dinner for Susan Sarandon. We'll take the camera with us so follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Dip Those Momo And Anything Else! Quick Tomato Chutney.

    I love chutneys and dipping sauces of all sorts. There's a certain zen state I get into when I'm canning things, and since nearly all my stores of chutney have been demolished because of all the holiday feasting, I need to get started and make some more. Like yesterday. I'm going to be participating in a burger cooking expo in the Plaza this coming weekend. I'm making kheema and I'm also going to be making some condiments to go with it. How all this is going to go down in a crowd I have no idea, but it should make for some interesting (read embarrassing) pictures.      
   While I worked that out I was faced with making some sauces that would be appropriate for the various momo I served last week at Tim and Irvings' party. I made two types of momo, vegetarian and for those who wanted it, chicken. The vegetarian momo turned out to come from a rather lazy idea of mine.
   One of my favorite Indian salads is a cabbage and carrot salad garnished with roast peanuts, (My version uses peanut powder.) It's quick and easy and always a big favorite at our house. For my purposes I've  changed only two things in this recipe:
 1) I shred the carrots instead of slicing them on a mandolin.
 2) I use peanut powder instead of whole roast peanuts.
 Other than that the recipe is the same, and I've found it makes an amazing stuffing for vegetarian momo.

   The Tamarind chutney I made went perfectly with the cabbage and carrot momo. The tartness of the tamarind with a hint of jaggery, or piloncilo, or brown sugar if you haven't got it was just what the sweet vegetables in the momo needed. But what of the chicken momo???  I decided to make a second chutney since of course I have all the time in the world... not. I was looking for something fast and something that would work with everything else I was making. The answer, Tomato Chutney.
  The great thing about this chutney is that it makes up fast and you can have it on the table quick, quick, quick. I used canned tomatoes as right now we're not exactly at the height of tomato season. this works fine as long as you use the best quality canned tomatoes you can get.

Indian Style Momo Dumplings

Here's what to do:
 In a large pan or kadhai heat up 2 Tbs of vegetable oil. I  use coconut oil. When the oil is hot toss in:
 2 cups of thinly sliced onions
 4 dried red chilies seeded and crumbled up
 1 tbs chopped fresh ginger.
 Stir this all around, cooking it for about 5 minutes or so until the onions  get a bit soft.

 Add in:
 canned tomatoes equal to about 4 or 5 chopped tomatoes.
 Salt to taste (if you're using canned tomatoes, remember all of them have salt unless you buy the unsalted variety as I do.)
 Cook the tomoatoes for about 5 to 10 minutes until they're cooked through and softened.

 Put the tomato mixture into a blender or food processor and grind it up to a chunky consistency.
 Put it into a bowl  and set it aside.

It's time for the chaunk or seasoning:
In a small skillet heat 1 Tbs of vegetable oil.
When the oil is hot toss in:
 1 tsp black mustard seed
 1 tsp urad dal (this is optional)
 and 8 or so fresh or frozen curry leaves if you have them.

 When the mustard seeds start to pop, pour everything into the tomato mixture and stir it up well.

That's it. This makes about 3 cups of chutney. This goes with a whole lot of stuff, everything from momo to samosas to whatever, either Indian specialties or Western dishes.

   Coming up next, I'm finally getting around to mushrooms cooked like meat. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Sauce For My Momo! And 'Mo 'Mo Face Stuffing

    It has been one mad whirl around here since Monday. We've had company. Our buddy Irving arrived from LA for a visit and general plowing through the regions' culinary offerings.

Irving raiding the cheese case at Vellas

   Irving was my cooking buddy in LA and we were always exploring all the corners of the Big Smoggy Basin at all hours looking for new and interesting food. Up here in Sonoma, I try to control myself. I have  jeans that I love and I have to be able to get my ass in them on a regular basis. So, most of the time since I cook at home and cook Indian food, I'm pretty careful about what goes into my pie-hole. Basically, not a lot of pie. Let's leave it at that.
   Of course when company comes, it's another matter entirely. My careful, organic, locavore-mainly veg eating turns into a free-for-all and unwillingly I find myself channeling Guy Fieri. Talk about separated at birth!

Me, with "Whole Hog" at the Fremont Diner

Guy With God-knows-what

   The last several days I've been found far outside my comfort zone, ingesting things I never even dream about. And speaking of dreams, after eating all of the above plus hush puppy,s I dreamt that night I was being arrested for piracy on the high seas. I have no idea why. I call them "meat dreams".
  After stuffing my face for the last two days I thought, I'd better cook something. Irving had asked for momo and I was wanting to try an all veg momo recipe. And so momo it was. How about 2 kinds of momo? Why not, chicken and veg? And of course one cannot have momo without proper dipping sauces, both Tamarind and Tomato, and I had to make those also. That is how I found myself eating momo at 10 pm. The sauces are quite simple and what took the time was getting up the energy to cook after all the other eating I'd been doing.
  So here is one very simple dipping sauce that goes well with anything that needs dipping. I'll give you the other one later as I have a pressing appointment with some tamales at El Molino Central. The stuff there is insanely good and can also be found at the Ferry Market in San Francisco. We're talking Blue Bottle Coffee kids.

Tamarind Chutney

  Soak 2 Tbs of tamarind pulp in 1 cup of hot water.
  (I didn't photograph this because there is no way (at least I haven't found one) to keep soaking tamarind pulp from looking like something that doesn't belong at the table.)
  Tamarind can be found at any Indian or Asian market, and also one can find tamarind concentrate in a jar at any Hispanic market. Even Safeway carries it.
  If using the concentrate, no soaking required. Just mix it with water as per the directions on the jar. You won't need as much tamarind as it's been concentrated.
  If using tamarind pulp, pour it through a sieve into another bowl and mash the tamarind down with a wooden spoon rubbing all the pulp you can into the hot water. Now set the tamarind mixture aside.
  In a small bowl mix together
 2 Tbs of chickpea flour (besan flour) with 2 Tbs of cold water. Stir this together to make a paste then add in:
another 2 Tbs of cold water to make a smooth batter. Set this aside too.
 In a skillet heat :
 2 Tbs of vegetable oil
 When the oil is hot add in:
 1 tsp black mustard seeds
 When the mustard seeds start to pop toss in:
 1 tsp of fennel seed

A minute later add in:
1/2 tsp of Kashmiri chili (or 1/4 tsp of cayenne 1/4 tsp of paprika)

1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of turmeric

Then add in:
the tamarind liquid. Bring it to a boil

 Then pour in:
 The chickpea flour batter

 Mix it in well. Add 2 Tbs of sugar or jaggery and stir it up.

 Let it boil for about 5 minutes then turn down the heat and simmer it for another 5 minutes. It will be a thick, dipping, glossy sauce that goes particularly well with the vegetarian momo recipe I'm going to be posting as soon as I return from the days pigging out.

  I have to run now as we need to take our guest foraging among the hand-ground masa and Blue Bottle Coffee. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Chocolate and Mint. Mousse for the Masses

   This last weekend was Oscar weekend or as it's known around our house, The Hollywood Super Bowl. For years, even when I was a little kid, the whole family would park itself in front of the Teevee to watch the dresses, the glamour and all the envelope ripping. Oscar Day was like a national Holiday for Fran. Where my dad would yell at us during any sort of football game if we stepped on the loose board in the living room that sent the television picture spinning, everyone knew to stay out of mom's way on Oscar night. It always started early with the Red Carpet arrivals and didn't end until Barbara Walters had made someone cry.

   When I had my own home, I followed those rules handed down by my foremothers. One does not move from the TV during the Time of Oscar. For many years I had food prepared and waiting for my guests to help themselves so that I could watch everything, beginning to end. And then there was this year. The Year of the Momo.

   It had started the week before when our house guests from LA were up at working at Pixar and decided to come spend the weekend with us in Sonoma. I had a request to make some momo, and that request turned me into a momo making fool. The momo were so easy and quick to make that I thought to myself, self, why not just make momo for your yearly Oscar event? It would be easy. And fast. And who doesn't like momo? You can serve them with various Indian side dishes and homemade chutneys. Easy peasy. And then I started inviting people. More than a dozen to be exact. I remember lying in bed and thinking to myself, how many momo can one person eat? They're small, they're tasty, they're eaten in one bite. Holy shit!! I'm going to be making like over a 100 momo!!! What the hell have I done?!

   Then I started checking out our guests for food allergies, something I always do. I had 2 gluten frees, 1 vegetarian who was also a piscatarian, 1 nut allergy who could only eat coconut and 1 lactose intolerant. **** Bad word of choice goes here. So now I was faced with a math problem. How many gluten free, how many nut free how many....Arrrrrgh! I would need a slide rule to figure it out.

   Needless to say I spent the first 30 minutes of the Oscars in the kitchen with the sound turned up surrounded by tall stacks of various bamboo steamers. Multi steamers marked for no allergic cross contamination. My kitchen looked like a hole in the wall dim sum parlor run by a bamboo steamer hoarder.

   At least the dessert was easy. A few days before, my friend and fellow Sonoman Anne McKibben who founded CocoaPlanet asked me if I'd like some chocolate to use in whatever I was concocting for dessert.  When someone offers me chocolate they usually don't have to ask twice, especially this CocoaPlanet stuff.

   What can I say about a company who's motto is "More Taste Less Sugar." Each piece is less than 100 calories, and contains only 8 grams of sugar. Plus it's Gluten Free and Kosher. I actually buy the stuff myself, to use at home, but of course if Anne wants to give me some, that's okay by me. It comes in several flavors. After she heard I had a bag of Mint Crystals that Marx Foods had given me, she contributed Cocoa Mint chocolates to the pot and a chocolate mint mousse was born.

Chocolate Mint Mousse

Here's What You Need:

7 oz of semi sweet chocolate. I used 7 squares of CocoaPlanet Cocoa Mint
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
3 Tbs sugar
2 cups of whipping cream
Extra whipping cream for topping
Mint Crystals

Here's What You Do:

Chop the chocolate into pieces and set it aside.

Whip the egg yolks, sugar, and a pinch of salt together in a metal bowl and set it aside.

Heat 3/4 of a cup of cream in a pot.
When the cream is hot, slowly drizzle it into the metal bowl full of egg yolk mixture.

Keep stirring while you do this, otherwise you will have scrambled eggs and not a custard base for the mousse.

Note: Some mousses, (meese, mice, moussi??) are made with a gelatin base instead of eggs. Here is one recipe. I didn't use gelatin in this mousse as one of the vegetarian guests does not eat gelatin and I didn't want to take a chance experimenting with agar agar on this particular recipe. I had my hands full with momo and rice paper wraps.

Once the cream and egg mixture is well whisked in the metal bowl, pour it back into the pot.

Now it's time to cook the custard.
Keep the heat on medium low and stir it constantly. It's ready when your thermometer reads 160 degrees.
Usually I just eyeball custard and consider it done when it coats the spoon thickly, but if you want to be technical, it's 160 degrees you're looking for.
When the mixture has reached 160, pour it through a fine strainer into a bowl.

Add in the vanilla.
Melt your chocolate pieces, either in a glass bowl in the microwave at half power for about 3 to 5 minutes. (Take it out every minute or so to stir it) or as I did, in a metal bowl over a pot of boiling water.
When the chocolate has melted (it doesn't take long) blend it into the custard.

You want to whisk this stuff until it's smooth and glossy then set it aside to cool.
When it's cooled (also happens fast) start whipping the cream.
Whip 1 and 1/4 cups of cream into barely stiff peaks.

Okay, now here's a confession. I was whipping and then decided to check on my hand blender. So, I turned it off and lifted it out of the bowl to examine it. I then decided to start whipping again, holding it near my face I turned it on. Alan said he saw that was what I was going to do but couldn't believe I would actually do it. I wound up covered in whipped cream.

That's after cleaning up. So, nobody's perfect.

Take the whipped cream and whisk about 1/4 of it into the mousse well. This will lighten the color and make it easier to work with.

 Gently fold the rest of the whipped cream into the mixture...

...until it's all folded in.

Spoon the mousse into individual serving glasses, cover them in plastic wrap and chill for at least 7 hours. I made mine the day before the Oscars, which was one less thing I had to do. Much appreciated as this is a great make ahead dessert.

The one thing I didn't do was the individual glasses. This recipe serves 8.  I  doubled it and then put it all into one large bowl, which I then spooned into individual servings as I don't have 16 all of one kind of glass.

Before serving whip some unsweetened cream.
Place a dollop on top of each mousse and then sprinkle the whipped cream with crushed mint crystals.

The result is a light and fluffy cocoa mint mousse.

Postscript: While cleaning the big bowl this was served from, I was preparing to rinse it in the sink. Alan yelled "No!" and wrestled it away from me to scrape what thin shreds of mousse remained. Classy? No. Delicious? Yes.
 
   What have I learned from this Oscar experience? I will never again serve momo to an army of people when there's something I want to see on TV. But this Cocoa MInt Mousse is a big time keeper and I'm very eager to try it with some other of CocoaPlanet's chocolate flavors. I'm truly hooked on the stuff. Thanks to Marx Foods for the Mint Crystals and CocoaPlanet for the delicious chocolate!!

  Coming up next Spring is nearly here, and it's fresh, green and healthy time again. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Finger Foods For Awards Night

   This is it. Our big weekend. Others pig out over the Superbowl, but around our house it's always been the Academy Awards, and yes the Golden Globes too, but Golden Globes night does not involve the wearing of a plastic tiara.

   Usually I'm looking for easy, quick foods to fling at my guests so as not to miss any of the Red Carpet action. This year I've decided to serve a variety of things buffet style. Since I'll be having 2 gluten-free guests, one vegetarian/pescatarian, and 10 omnivores I'll be serving Indian salads and side dishes along with hot Momo and steamed Spring Rolls with a variety of fillings.

   I've been practicing my rolling, steaming and filing techniques, and one of the stuffings I'll be serving this weekend is lamb. I gave the lamb a test run this weekend when our guests from LA were visiting and it was a hit. They're simple to mix and make. One pound of ground lamb, some nuts and spices and you're in business. Once you get going you can't stop steaming and eating them. At least that's what happened here.

Lamb Momo

Here's What You Need:

1lb of ground lamb
1/4 cup of chopped pistachios
8 finely chopped dried apricots
1 small onion finely chopped
1 shallot finely chopped
3 Tbs of chopped fresh cilantro
3Tbs of finely chopped fresh mint
1/4 tsp or  to taste Kashmiri chili powder or a mixture of cayenne and paprkia.
1 tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp of ground coriander
1 tsp of salt or to taste
1 package of wonton wrappers

Here's What to Do: 

Mix all of the above listed ingredients together.
Refrigerate the mixture for about 1 hour.
Put 1 Tbs of the mixture in the center of each wonton wrapper.
Put the Momo into a steamer.
Place the steamer over boiling water
Cover it and let steam for about 12 minutes.

Serve with chutney or raita or sauce of your choice.
I served these with Mango Curd, a mint raita, and Quick Tomato Chutney. This Tamarind dipping sauce works great too. Serve 'em up and stand back.

Other great finger foods for Awards night are Indian Potato Fritters

Here's a recipe for Steamed Bao with an Indian Filling

As to desserts, I'll be working on a very special gluten free treat involving chocolate, but there are always Baked Spiced Mini-Donuts
 

...or a lovely Gluten Free Chocolate Mandarin Orange Cake

   The great thing about all these dishes is that they can all be made ahead of time, and for the things that need to be served hot, the makings can be prepped early to await steaming. It couldn't be simpler than that.

   Coming up next, that gluten free chocolate dessert, follow along on Twitter @kathygori

The Birthday Finale! Cakes and Cab, The Wine That Made France Jealous.

    My week of birthday revels came to a smashing finale Saturday night with an Indian street-food-a-palooza party.
 This last week had been a mad, crazy blur of late nights and eating out, running the gamut from Morimoto to iHop. So I thought that Saturday night should be my turn back in the kitchen as a way of thanking all my friends who'd made the week (okay the last 11 days) so special for me.
  I decided that the best way to have some fun was to make a whole bunch of street-food style snacks. There were samosas,

 momo...

 vadai...

  idili...

 and an array of chutneys, relishes and salads.

In short,a lot of food.

 And of course....The Wine. About The Wine. We're talking about a magnum of Chateau Montelena 1974 Cabernet. Read about it here.

   This was the famous vineyard and one of the famous wines that put Sonoma and Napa on the Wine map. Look out France. The Wine was a gift from our attorney and we've kept it carefully waiting for just the perfect occasion to open it. Saturday night was the night.
   Thanks to our friend Leighton who's actually in the wine business, it was carefully opened...

 

...poured, sniffed and enjoyed by all. It was a 37 year old bottle and we opened it just in time! People had a great time, eating...

(World traveler Mr. X certifying the authenticity of the dishes)

 talking...

 laughing....

 

begging...

(The wolfs' stare will hypnotize you into giving her a momo)

and lurking.

(Patsy's go-to spot at parties is under the dining room table, just in case of course.)

It wouldn't be a party without presents.

Herbs!

Culinary tools

Reading Material (I'm probably the last person on the planet that hasn't read this)

Flowers!

 The odd item.

No, this is not what you think it is, get your mind out of the gutter (then drop and give me 10)

   It's a gnocchi board okay? A gnocchi board! No more dominatrix jokes.
  Finally the cake came out. And what a cake. We always serve Princess cakes from the best bakery in Sonoma, Scandia! Alan consulted with the owner Marcella. He wanted an Indian themed cake. He'd shown her some sari fabric and she suggested a henna design for the cake, which is what she did. She's great. She even called the house on Friday night to tell us what a great time she was having with the project. She totally kicked ass with the cake!

   The night was amazing. Great friends, good food, who needs anything more? Maybe just a candle or two less on the cake. Maybe?? It's now 24 hours later and I'm still doing dishes but who cares? A birthday comes just once a year... if you work it right it could go on for at least 11 days!
   In the next few days I'm going to be sharing the recipes and how to's of what I served. With the exception of the momo, all the dishes were vegetarian. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori