top of page
Search

Vegan Paneer Bhurji Momos

What are momos? Indian spiced filling wrapped inside chewy dough and steamed to perfection!


Momos have found their way into India thanks to our neighbors - Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan! It is now a popular Indian street food and there are many takes on it - paneer chili momos, chili cheese momos. The thing here is - we've taken the humble dumpling, spiced it up and created an explosion of flavor!


There are many Himalayan restaurants here in the Bat Area that do make these momos, but due to COVID, I was experimenting my own and though my momo folding skills can use a lot of work, my filling is top notch! I make extra of the paneer (Read Tofu) bhurji and use it in wraps, over toasted bread and it makes so many yummy meals!



You can add any vegetables you have stocked. I usually avoid using squashes as they tend to make the batter more watery. But by all means, grate some squash and don't add water from the beginning in your batter. Salt the squash, let it ooze out all the water and then add it. I would recommend adding peppers, onions, celery, cabbage, carrots, leeks, riced cauliflower, green beans, sweet corn. Literally, sky is the limit!



 

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT HERE



 

PRINT RECIPE





Ingredients:

Paneer Bhurji:

  • 1 block Organic Firm Tofu (454 g)

  • 1/2 cup Onions, finely chopped

  • 1/2 cup Rainbow Sweet Peppers, finely chopped

  • 1/4 frozen Green Peas

  • 1 tsp Cumin Seeds

  • 1/8 tsp Asafoetida (Hing) - Optional

  • 1 tsp Garam Masala

  • 2 tsp Pav Bhaji Masala

  • 1 tsp Red Chili Powder

  • 2 tsp Coriander & Cumin Seed Powder

  • ¼ tsp Tumeric Powder

  • 1 tsp Salt or as per taste

  • 2 tsp Lemon Juice

  • 2 tbsp Cilantro, chopped

  • 1 tbsp Mint Leaves, chopped

DumplingDough:

  • 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

  • 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour (Maida)

  • Salt to taste

  • 3/4 - 1 cup water

Momo Chutney:

  • 3 Roma Tomatoes, blanched

  • 3 dried chilies (Substitute with 1 tbsp Sriracha or Sambal Oelek)

  • 2 tbsp Onion, chopped

  • 1 tsp Soy Sauce

  • 1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar (Sub with Ketchup)

Directions:

Dough:

  1. In a mixing bowl, add the dry flours and salt and mix well

  2. Add water, little at a time and make a hard dough

  3. Cover and let it sit for 25-30 mins

Filling:

  1. In a pan on medium heat, add 1 tbsp oil

  2. Add 1 tsp Cumin Seeds and 1/8 tsp Asafoetida

  3. Add the veggies

  4. Add the spices and mix well

  5. Add 2 tsp Lemon Juice

  6. Stir in crumbled tofu and mix well

  7. Sprinkle 2 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro and 1 tbsp chopped mint leaves

Momo Chutney:

  1. In a saucepan, heat 2 cups of water and bring it to a rolling boil

  2. Put a X mark on the tomato and dunk it in water

  3. Add 3 dried red chilies

  4. Boil it for 1-2 minutes and remove the tomatoes in an ice bath and red chilies in a bowl

  5. Remove the skins of the tomatoes

  6. Using a blender, blend the tomatoes and chilies to a fine paste

  7. In a saucepan heat 1 tsp oil, add 2 tbsp chopped onion

  8. Add the tomato and chili paste and season with salt

  9. Add 1 tsp soy sauce

  10. Cover and cook for 5-7 minutes

  11. Add 1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar (Sub with Ketchup)

Rolling the momos is the best family exercise you can have!! I usually use 3.5-4 inch rolled out dough, fill with 1 tbsp of the filling rest it on the board and hold it like a soft taco. Then pinching from one end, use the other hand to create pleats. For me, I am left handed, so I started from right and use my left middle finger and thumb to create a pleat and right thumb and index finger to pinch the pleat in place.


Once all momos are filled, you can steam or pan fry immediately, or arrange on a freezer safe plate in a single layer and freeze for about an hour. Once the momos are hard, transfer them to a ziplock bag and store it in the freezer. Do not thaw. Whenever you wanna eat it, just steam or pan fry them straight from the freezer.




Cooking Method:

Steam:

  1. Grease the bottom of the steaming basket with some oil or lay some cabbage leaves to prevent sticking

  2. Place the momos at a sufficient distance from each other to prevent sticking

  3. Steam on stove top or instant pot for 8-10 mins or until they are brownish translucent. Tip: Frozen momos will cook quicker

Pan-fry:

  1. To cook momos like pot stickers, heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan

  2. Place the momos sufficiently apart and toss and coat in oil

  3. Add 1 cup water (for all 28 momos) cover and cook them until top part is cooked (brownish translucent) and bottom part is golden brown


Our momos look brown since we added whole wheat flour instead of only all purpose flour.




Do try the recipe and let me know how it turned out!

Comments

bottom of page