Momos, from Jody Lake, from Fern Wofford, from traditional Tibetan cuisine. Makes about 24 momos, feeds four to six people.
Bread Dough
2 tablespoons yeast
4 tablespoons seasame oil
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
Place the yeast into 1/4 cup hot water. Place the oil, sugar and salt into 3/4 cup hot water. Mix yeast, water and flour to make a stiff dough. Turn out onto floured board and knead until very stiff. Set aside and let rise to double (about 1 hour).
Note: If you double the dough, you can make the momos a little breadier and have some leftover dough to make fried dough twists from. Which are very tasty...
Meat Filling
1 pound ground beef (can use ground turkey or vegetarian ground beef substitute)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 beef bouillon cube in a little water
1/2 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
3 to 4 green onions
(optionally add cilantro)
Mix meat ingredients together. Note the bouillon in the meat is to simulate the richer taste of yak meat. Consider substituting buffalo meat without the bouillon.
Divide risen dough into quarters. Roll each quarter into a long, thin log. Cut or pinch off about one to one-and-one-half inch of each log. Roll out into a rectangle.
Place approximately one tablespoon of meat filling onto each rectangle. Fold corners inward (like the back of an envelope) and roll flat so there is no open seam. (Don't worry if a little meat is exposed.)
Heat thin coat of cooking oil in frying pan. Add dollop of sesame oil to pan for flavoring. Fry each momo until golden brown. Turn oven on "Warm", stack cooked momos in layers on a baking sheet with paper towels under each layer to keep warm until serving. Do this even with the last batch -- it helps drain the oil.
Serve hot with a dipping sauce of equal proportions of soy sauce and vinegar. May be frozen and reheated later if you have leftovers, approximately 15 seconds on medium power in the microwave, then in the toaster oven or oven if desired.