Me & Mama Make Momos

Amalas (Tib: Mothers) know best, and that proved true once again today. With so many other things going on right now, I was at a loss as to what to post for my Lhakar Diaries entry today, but Amala came to the rescue and suggested we make momos today.

Growing up in Belleville, Ontario, momos were one of the few links I had to my Tibetan heritage. In fact, I suppose it was one of the prouder aspects of being Tibetan growing up. Momos (or “moo-moos” as many of my Canadian friends would call them) were relatively famous in my town.

Every year, the small Tibetan community would take part in the Belleville Waterfront and Ethnic Festival, where along with the Italian, Greek, German, Dutch, Polish, Indian, and Chinese communities, we would display our heritage loud and proud through cultural dance performances at the festival, participation in the town’s festival parade with our Tibetan chupas, and even participation in the Waterfront & Ethnic Festival pageant, where each country would have a representative from their community compete for the title of Mr. or Ms. Waterfront (my cousin even won one year!).

Step 1: Make dough ball thingies

But like how they say, ‘the best way to to a man’s heart is his stomach’, this was very true in our town. People LOVED momos. They would stand in long lines waiting for our momos. And whenever the local paper reported on the annual festival, you could bet that momos were mentioned as an attraction. Even meeting new people growing up, when I mentioned I was Tibetan, the fact that my new acquaintance loved momos (or moo-moos) was more likely to come up than not. In Belleville, Tibet = momos.

Anyway, back to the future, I didn’t want to make a video about how to make momos – I’m no pro like PemYo; so here are just some photos of me and my Amala (my momo-making guru) making momos today. Enjoy! As I’m enjoying eating them right now… Mmmm…..

p.s. I made sure to post this early enough for those in North America so there’s enough time for you to run to your local Tibetan restaurant to grab momos – obviously you can’t resist after reading this post 🙂

Step 2: Smash the dough flat with this wooden rod

Step 3: Make this meat concoction

Step 4: Put the magical meat concoction in the flattened dough

Step 5: Close it!

Step 6: Show off your momos in the moktsang

Step 7: Steam 'em

Step 8: Place them ever so gently in an attractive fashion

Step 9: Try and steal a bite of your Amala's momo... and take credit for her work on Lhakar Diaries