Momo Madness

You don't always have to get on a plane to travel someplace far away. Every major city has ethnic neighborhoods, it's Chinatowns, Greektowns, Little Italies, Little Indias... the list goes on. Sometimes, you don't have to look any further than your own back yard to discover a community you never knew existed. I'm lucky that I live near New York City. I literally have the world at my doorstep, and I take advantage of that whenever I can. But one time, about twelve years ago, I made of those back yard discoveries I just mentioned.

At the time, I was looking for places that taught Buddhist medtiation. A book that I was reading listed places all over the country, and in New Jersey, there was listed a place called the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center. I went and made the aquantance of Josh Cutler, Director of the Learning Center. He took time out of his day for my unannounced arrival, and over the course of the next couple of hours, he told me the history of Tibetan Buddhism in the United States, and how it was first introduced to this country by one man, Geshe Wangyal, a Buddhist monk from Kalmykia. He also told me of the Kalmyk community in Howell, two towns over from where I live.

Kalmyks are Mongolian by ethnicity, Tibetan Buddhist by heritage, and Russian by nationality. There history, and how the Howell community came to be the largest Kalmyk community in the world (outside of Kalmykia) is facinating to say the least. The short version of the story goes like this.


In the seventeenth century, a large group of Mongolian nomads left the homealnds and migrated westward, eventually settling in a region bordering the Caspian Sea. They came under subject of the tsar, but remained relatively autonomous and the the area became known as the Kalmyk Khanate.

After the Soviet revolution, Lenin issued an appeal for them to revolt against their traditional leaders and join the red army. When the majority refused, the authorities began a campaign of terror against them through execution of their leaders, deportaion to slave labor camps, and confiscation of property.

Under Stalin, thing got even worse. Many escaped to what they thought was safety, but turned out to be Germany in the late thirties. Forced labor and concentration camps was the fate of many. After the war, with the help of the Tolstoy Foundation, a large contingent of Kalmyks were relocated to and area in NJ called Freewood Acres, which already had a large Russian community living there.

In 1997, I was working at a start up television news station called News 12 New Jersey. At the time, News 12, under the guidance of the forward-thinking new director, Jeff Marks, was attempting to become the de-facto destination for all things New Jersey. I pitched an idea for a documentary about a group of people in the state that most New Jerseyans didn't even know existed. New Jersey Kalmyks: Hardship and Homecoming became the first documentary to air on the station. If you would like to see it, I present it for you below in three parts. Enjoy this "facinating story about some of your neighbors."

While I was working on the documentary, I met a fellow by the name of David Urubshurow who was an invaluable help, filling us in on history, introducing us to the community and, yes, feeding us. Kalmyk food, specifically. If you watched Hardship and Homecoming, you saw David talking about, and making, Tibetan/Mongolian dumplings. In Tibet, they're called momos, in Mongolia, they're called buuz; but whatever you call them they're a delight.

If you've been following this blog, you may have noticed that I am an unrepentant dumpling lover. Judge me if you must, but I make no apologies for this.

Momos are related to every other Asian dumpling, and, ultimately, albeit distantly, to European stuffed dough dishes like pierogi and ravioli. The filling for momos is usually a combnination of meat and vegetables, much like their Chinese cousins. However, momos are not seasoned quite the same. For one, you don't use soy sauce for saltiness. The meat is almost always beef, lamb yak, or some combination of the three. Yak is a bit difficult, but not impossible, to get in the states. One place that does carry it is calld Fossil Farms, in northern NJ. They sell yak burgers for about $10.00 per pound. The batch I made for this post was made with ground bison, but you can use just about any lean meat. Here's one recipe.

Ingredients

Dough

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup water

1 lb ground lean red meat

1 medium onion diced fine

1 tsp grated garlic

1 tsp grated ginger

1/2 lb finely chopped combination of leek and cabbage

2 scallions, chopped finely

2 tbsp chopped cilantro

salt to taste

Preparation

Dough

Place flour and salt in a food processor and pulse to mix. With the food processor running, slowly add the water until small dough pellets start to form. Don't make the dough too sticky. If it is add a little more flour. Remove and wrap in plastic wrap while you make the filling.

Filling

Combine all the filling ingredients and mix well.

Assembling

I use a pasta machine to roll my dough. For me it's just easier, and I get more consistent results. I pass the dough through successively finer settings until the dough is about 1/16" thick, and use a 3 1/2" cutter to make the rounds However, if you don't have a pasta machine, you can break off pieces of dough that are about the size of a walnut and roll these out to the same thickness.

Traditionally, the middle portion of the wrapper is slightly thicker than the edges to ensure that the dough remains consistantly thick after the momos are sealed.

Momos are made in one of two ways: a ball shape or a pleated crescent shape. The following video shows how to fill and wrap them.

To steam the momos, place them on lettuce leaves in a steamer and steam on high heat for fifteen to twenty minutes. remove them to plates and serve with one of the follwing sauces.

Tsal

This is a traditional sauce to serve with momos. It is made with seeded, chopped tomatoes, cilantro, green onion, and garlic. Sounds a little like salsa, doesn't it? I suppose you could use a mild Mexican salsa in a pinch; but if you've gone to the trouble of making momos from scratch, why cheap out now?

Soy based dipping sauce

Combine equal parts light soy sauce and rice vinegar. To this, add some grated ginger, garlic-chili paste and chopped scallion. This is my personal favorite.

By the way, I've stolen the title Momo Madness from a very good friend of mine, Beth Murphy. She is a film maker in Massachusetts who has produced some great docs around the world on subjects ranging from young survivors of breast cancer to womens' rights movements in Afghanistan. We worked together at News 12, and I have had the pleasure to work with her on several projects since then. Please visit her website at Principal Pictures.

Until next time, explore your neighborhood; you never know what you'll find.