Beef momos make a great starter course or snack.
I absolutely love momos. No matter what filling you choose, they are always delicious and these beef momos are the perfect way to start almost any curry feast. You might also like to try chicken momos, vegetable momos or the now very popular fusion tandoori momos.
Making the wrappers is the most time consuming part of it all. I don’t find this difficult but if you are short of time or don’t want to make your own wrappers, you can use shop bought momo or Chinese dumpling wrappers. If you do, you will save yourself about an hour of work.
You might like to serve these with a selection of other popular starters or snacks like samosas or samosa chaat, chicken shami kebabs, poppadoms and of course fried, baked or air-fried onion bhajis along with some delicious chutneys and my new Chinese crispy chili oil.
What are beef momos?
Beef momos are a popular and delicious Tibetan dish that are now hugely popular in various parts of Asia. For religious reasons, you probably won’t find them in India.
Momos are dumplings made with a thin dough, that’s filled with a mixture of finely chopped vegetables and often minced meat such as beef, chicken, lamb and pork. You can really choose which ingredients you use. I’ve made cheeseburger momos before and they were awesome!
Is it easy to prepare momos?
Yes. You will find the most time-consuming part being preparing the momo wrappers. If you are short of time and just want a good momo or ten, you can also purchase momo wrappers or Chinese dumpling wrappers for you beef momos.
Doing so, you will cut the preparation time and work down by about an hour.
Can you work ahead?
Yes. You can prepare the dough one or two days ahead of rolling them into wrappers. Just keep the dough, tightly covered in the fridge until needed.
You can also mix the ingredients for the beef filling a couple of days ahead of wrapping and steaming your amazing beef momos.
What are the typical filling ingredients for beef momos?
The sky’s the limit here. In the recipe below, you will find beef (obviously), chillies, chopped garlic and ginger, lemongrass, spring onions (scallions), salt and pepper. Soy sauce is often a popular addition too.
Just don’t feel like you have to use the same ingredients. They work for me but so do so many other ingredients.
How long can you keep the momos in the fridge?
When you seal the momos, you can keep them in the fridge, covered tightly, for at least three days.
I don’t recommend steaming them and then storing in the fridge unless you plan on making tandoori momos. Even if you are making tandoori momos, it is best practice to steam them right before applying the marinade.
The reason for this is that once you steam the beef momos, they have a limited shelf life. The wrapper will become hard and no where near as nice as if you steam and apply the marinade.
Can you freeze momos?
Yes. Just like you can freeze raviolis, beef momos freeze really well. You can store them in an air-tight container, before steaming for up to 6 months.
How do you serve momos?
This is finger food! You can serve your vegetable momos simply with a good hot sauce, chili oil or a selection of chutneys. If it sounds good, it will be.
Momos are best served just after you steam them. Don’t prepare them earlier in the day and attempt to keep them warm. They just won’t be as good as the wrappers will become hard.
I know this from an unfortunate experience when I made them for a large group and they were a bit of a letdown.
What other momo recipes can you make?
There are so many. While you’re hear though, you might like to try my vegetable momos, chicken momos or the amazing tandoori momos!
Step by step photographs
Go ahead and get creative with the ingredients but be sure to get them all out and ready before you start. If it sounds good, add it to your momo filling!
Want to prepare your own momo wrappers?
Just follow the instructions here or in the recipe card below.
Pour the flours and water into a large mixing bowl.
Begin kneading and forming into a dough. It will be quite dry at first but will eventually form into a nice, soft dough.
Take the dough out of the bowl and continue kneading for about 10 minutes until you have a soft, not sticky dough. Allow to rest, cover with a damp cloth for about an hour.
How should you slice the dough pieces for the wrappers?
Beef momos can be made large (3 bites) or small (1 to 2 bites). I usually go for the two bite option.
If you have a kitchen scale and want all your momos to be the same size, slice the dough into 13 – 14g pieces. You don’t have to weigh it though. This can all be done by eye but I weigh them sometimes for perfection.
You can but do not have to weigh out the dough pieces.
Flatten and then roll out each piece of dough into a round shape that is approximately 2mm thick and 9cm in diameter. This is for 13 to 14g pieces.
Knead all of the beef filling ingredients together until well combined.
Place a good tablespoon of the meat on top of a wrapper.
How do you keep the momo wrappers fresh while preparing the beef momos?
There are two ways you can do this. I usually just cover the dough balls in a bowl with a damp cloth and take them out as I prepare each beef momo. That works great.
You could also prepare all of the momo wrappers first before filling them. To do this, keep the dough balls under a damp towel in a bowl. Roll one out and then dust with cornflour (corn starch). Then continue with the rest of the dough, stacking and dusting each wrapper liberally so that they do not stick together.
If you are working in a warm room, I recommend rolling and then stuffing each momo before moving on to the next momo.
Fold the circular momo wrapper in half around the meat. Then pinch one side closed and pleat the dough to seal, forming a small moon shape.
Prepare each momo and store them covered until ready to steam.
Steam the momos in batches if you need to for about 5 to 6 minutes. They should not be touching when steaming.
Enjoy with soy sauce or another sauce. Hot sauce is also good with these.
Have you tried this beef momo recipe?
If so, please give it a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I love receiving your feedback and I’m sure other readers of my blog do too. Thank you.
Beef Momos
These beef momos taste amazing dipped into soy sauce or hot sauce. In this recipe you will learn how to make the wrappers but you can also use shop bought momo or Chinese dumpling wrappers for ease.
Ingredients
- FOR THE WRAPPERS (Or just use shop bought momo or Chinese dumpling wrappers)
- 225g (8 oz) plain flour, sifted
- 75g (2.6 oz) cornflour (corn starch), sifted
- Water – about 170ml
- A pinch of salt
- FOR THE FILLING
- 300g (11oz) lean ground beef
- 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2.5cm (1 inch) piece of ginger, finely chopped
- 3 spring onions, finely chopped
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- 1 lemongrass stalk, white part only, thinly sliced and chopped
- 3 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
- 2 green finger chillies, finely chopped
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Start by making your momo dough, if making. Sift the flours and salt into a large bowl.
- Slowly add the water while mixing until you have a firm but soft dough. If the dough is too wet, add more flour. Too dry, add a little more water. The dough should be soft but not sticky. If it is, add a bit more flour.
- Cover the dough and place, covered in the refrigerator for at least 60 minutes or overnight. A minimum of one hour sitting time will be best.
- In a mixing bowl, mix the beef with all the other filling ingredients together until well combined.
- When ready to make your beef momos, roll the dough into a long snake shape that is about 2.5cm (1 inch in diameter.
- Divide this dough into smaller pieces. For reference, I divide mine into 13 to 14g balls so that each of the momos are about the same size. You could just do this by eye though as shown in the photos above.
- Keep the small balls covered while you work to avoid drying. Take one of the balls and flatten it some with your fingers and then roll out into a circle shape that is about 2mm thick and 9cm in diameter. This is assuming you are using 13 - 14g pieces so the size of your momo wrappers may differ.
- Place a spoonful of the beef mixture onto the wrapper and dampen around sides of the circle with water using your finger and fold it over into a half circle and the pinch one of the ends together.
- Now press the rest of the half circle together while pressing with your thumb to make a moon shape and sealing by pleating the seam.
- Cover and repeat with the rest of the dough. You may have some of the beef mixture left over but I'm sure you can find a use for it. Throw it into a pasta sauce for example.
- Place the beef momos in your steamer and steam for 5 to 6 minutes. The dough will become soft. You may need to do this in batches as it is important that the momos not touch each other while steaming or they will stick together.
- Eat immediately with soy sauce and/or chilli sauce.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 177Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 95mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 8g