Momos

Steamed half-moon dumplings — a thin, unleavened wheat dough wrapper filled with minced pork, yak, chicken, or spiced vegetables (cabbage, onion, ginger, garlic, chilli), pleated into tight crescents and steamed in bamboo steamers until the wrapper is translucent and yielding. The Sikkimese momo is the most ubiquitous food in the Himalayan belt; every small shop, roadside stall, and home kitchen in Gangtok makes momos daily. Eaten dipped in a fiery tomato-sesame-chilli achaar that is considered as important as the dumpling itself. The technique of the pleat varies between communities — Tibetan, Sherpa, Bhutia — but the wrapper-to-filling ratio and the quality of the minced pork fat are the constant variables that separate excellent from ordinary momos.