Main Meals

Darjeeling Style Chicken Mo:Mo

By Dixya

Darjeeling-Style Chicken Mo:Mo are very famous chicken dumplings from in Darjeeling and Eastern part of Nepal. The recipe I am sharing is given by a local restaurant owner!!

I had my proper “Darjeeling” style mo:mo while I visited Darjeeling this past May with my family. It was so simple, juicy, and absolutely delicious; we inhaled several dozens of mo:mo in no time. The main difference I found between Nepali mo:mo I grew up with and Darjeeling style mo:mo is the use of spices or, the lack of. Nepali mo:mo uses “mo:mo masala” which is a combination of many spices like cumin, turmeric, coriander etc.

The Darjeeling Style Chicken Mo:Mo recipe I am sharing today was verbally given to me by a local restaurant owner in Pashupatinagar, Illam (border city between Nepal and India). To make Darjeeling mo:mo, you will need:

ground chicken
ginger
green onions and cilantro
ghee/butter/oil
salt
homemade dumpling wrapper preferred or store bought

The owners were so kind, they excitedly shared how they make Darjeeling-style chicken mo:mo with me!!!! I learned that they use all parts of chicken including skin and fats which probably explains it’s juiciness.

Instead of a meat grinder, I was told that that a lot of locals use a cleaver to cut chicken into finer pieces. For seasonings, things are very basic – salt, pepper, generous amount of grated ginger.

Green onions and cilantro are seasonal and only used in mo:mos if available. Personally, I prefer the taste of both green onions and cilantro in my dumplings so I am including it in my recipe but feel free to skip if you are not a fan.

Unlike here, mo:mos in Nepal are 100% handcrafted with scratch-made dough and all. It’s not uncommon to see roadside mo:mo carts kneading and rolling the dough, wrapping, and steaming dumplings right in front of you. I occasionally enjoy making dumpling wrapper from scratch but it’s hard to not to take advantage of pre-made wrappers which are just as good as the homemade kind. Twin marquis and Yissine are my go-to brands for wrappers.

Darjeeling Style Chicken Mo:Mo is served alongside fiery, chili + tomato + garlic dipping sauce but I am not quite happy with my recipe. So in the meantime, I suggest checking out my current go-to dipping sauce — Tomato Timur Achar.

In Nepal, some restaurants serve soup (more like broth) alongside mo:mo and on a cold day, it’s really heavenly. With the winter months coming up, I made a quick broth by simmering water with some ground chicken filling, ginger-garlic paste, cumin powder, turmeric, salt, and pepper to taste, and finished off with dried fish in Sichuan pepper and scallions. It was a decent broth but if has a recipe on how to make the soup served in local restaurants in Nepal, please let me know.

I would love to hear your feedback on Darjeeling Style Chicken Mo:Mo! I have been trying to replicate that same taste and texture, while it’s a work in progress I am pretty happy with the recipe I am sharing today. If you have any tips, recipes, or anything to share, feel free!!

Darjeeling Style Chicken Mo:Mo

Print Recipe

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 15

Course Main Course

Cuisine Nepali

Servings 40 momo

Ingredients

1 lb chicken thigh, ground use chicken skin and fat if possible
1 cup finely chopped onion about 1 medium onion
1 bunch green onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro about 10 sprigs
2-3 tablespoon ghee/oil/butter
3 tablespoon finely minced ginger
1/4 cup water see notes below
2 teaspoon salt
40 dumpling wrappers, store bought or scratch made or make from scratch

Instructions

In a bowl, mix ground chicken with onion, scallions, cilantro, ginger, ghee, salt. Add in water only if the mixture feels dry, otherwise skip the water. Mix everything and set aside.
Take a wrapper and gently wet the edges with water using your index finger. It helps seal the wrapper better. Take about 1.5-2 teaspoon depending on the size of your wrapper, then make pleats or fold to your desired shape. Continue until you are finished with the wrapper and filling.
In the meanwhile, fill your steamer 3/4th with water and bring it to a rapid boil. Line the steamer basket with cabbage, parchment paper or use nonstick cooking spray. Neatly arrange the dumplings without overcrowding the basket.
Steam for 10-12 minutes until the dumplings are ready.
Alternatively, you can arrange the dumplings on a baking tray and freeze for few hours until solid. Remove from the tray and transfer into the ziplock bag for later use. You can directly steam frozen dumplings for 10-12 minutes and enjoy.