Napalese Chicken Momo's

I love dumplings and Momo's. This is quite a time consuming dish, especially the dough, however you can buy ready made wrappers if you like. The below recipe makes around 30 Momo's but simply divide as needed. 

Makes approx 30 Momo Dumplings

For the filling;

Ingredients:

500g Chicken mince

1/2 Red onion, finely chopped

Handful Coriander, finely chopped

2 tsp Ginger, finely chopped

2 tsp Garlic, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Coriander powder

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Cumin powder

1 Red chilli, finely chopped

Pinch of salt

Method:

Mix all ingredients with hands until thoroughly combined in a bowl or container, cover and place in fridge for at least 30 mins to marinate. 

For the dumpling pastry;

Ingredients:

400g Plain flour

200ml hot water

1 Tbs Olive oil

1 tsp Salt

Method:

Sift flour into large bowl, make well in the centre and add olive oil.

In a jug, add water and salt, stir until dissolved. Slowly add water to flour and stir with the handle of a knife or spoon (I don't know why this works, but it really does).

Keep mixing in water until all the four is combined and no dust left on the bottom/sides of the bowl. You don't need to necessarily use all the water. 

Dust worktop with flour and kneed dough for 5 mins until smooth. Keep dusting worktop if needed.

Separate into 2 or more smaller dough balls and roll out using rolling pin. (if no rolling pin available, an empty bottle of wine works as long as it's a flat edge). 

The dough needs to be really thin, so much that you can make out the pattern of the work top or the shape of a knife if you slide it under the dough. Again, keep dusting worktop and dough to make sure it doesn't stick, flip and rotate dough sheet as you go. 

Using a cup, punch out circles, as many as required. 

Next;

Use a teaspoon to spoon out a small amount to each circle or wrapper. 

The next bit is more tricky and takes a while to get a grip on. 

Wet the outer edge of the dough/wrapper and then fold it over the mixture pressing the 2 wet sides together. You can add pleats to it if you like but it's more for appearance. Try not to get any of the filling in the press. Squeeze it hard but not so much you make a hole, you want to create a good seal. 
Optional, you can then trim the edge with the same cup you used to punch out the dough earlier. 

If not cooking right away, place on flour dusted chopping board and keep refrigerated until cooking. 

Next; 

In a large frying pan, heat a splash of oil on medium heat. 

Place each Momo in the pan, all with same side down.

Cook for 2 mins and gently turn. Repeat again to crisp each side. 

Once each side fried, add water to the frying pan, enough to cover just under half a cm of the pan and place lid on pan. 

Cook for 5 mins, gently turning the dumplings every minute. 

Lift lid and continue to cook until water has evaporated, again turning regularly so they don't stick. 

Serve with a spicy tomato chilli sauce for dipping.