Momo Massacre - In Search of Delhi's Best - Part 1 Dilli Haat

Momos 

Four commandments any good little Momo must follow:
  1. Thou shalt not covet thick skin. Skin should be thin but not translucent like Har Gow.  Half the fun is in that salty glutenous dough.
  2. Thou shalt dutifully yet cautiously enhance your meat stuffing with fresh aromatics (coriander, onion, ginger).
  3. Thou shalt never steam for too long. - Nothing worse than soggy skin and dried out meat.
  4. Thou shalt always serve thy best chilly sauce. - I don't care what you say the chilly sauce can make or break a momo. It should have layers of flavour, with that "desi chaska," given to it by the vinegar, garlic, salt and a splash of soy if I may be so bold to expect. Balance, balance, balance.
After a lot of persuading and flashing of my camera and diary I convinced them all to give us half plates. Please do not dare ask for the same. Eight pieces is what they give and eight pieces is what you shall get. Also to be safe and keep it consistent I have stuck to chicken meat through out. 


    Uttrakhand - Stall no. 1


    1. Skin - good 
    2. Meat a bit bland. I think even a little salt would have done the trick.
    3. Steamed to the right amount.
    4. Chilly sauce - not amazing. Right consistency but didn't have much more than the raw taste of chillies to call its own.
    Score: 3.0
    Meghaliya - Stall no. 5


    1. Skin - too thick
    2. Meat - Not very well flavoured. Oh, and it tasted like it had been boiled in dirty rain water.
    3. Cooked right, but at this point that aspect was a bit over shadowed by the above.
    4. Chilly - Well if was starving, with only this plate of food in front of me, I might have just eaten the chilly sauce.  Good balance between the vinegar, garlic and chilly.
    Score: 1.0

    Arunachal Pradesh - Momo Mia - Stall No. 6



    1. Skin a bit thicker than it need be.
    2. Meat perfectly "enhanced with aromatics"
    3. Even though the meat was a teeny bit dry the skin still retained all the juices inside. Making every bite quite pleasurable. 
    4. Chilly Sauce - Sadly senor Chilly Paste chose to come without his amigos, Vinegar, Garlic and Salt. Get some from Meghalaya next door, pair it with these and you'll be set.
    Score:  4.4

    Sikkim 



    1. Skin - Impressively thin. Perfect silkiness
    2. Meat -Blandly boring
    3. Meat - Dissapointingly dry
    4. Chilly Sauce Good - So far the best chilly sauce. Good consistency had all the basics along with some soy. 
    Score:  2.5

    Manipur 



    1. Skin - Could have been thick if it wasn't for the whole thing becoming a blob of knots, swirls and twists! At least it looked pretty, but what does that do for my mouth.
    2. Meat flavour not bad
    3. Meat bit dry
    4. Chilly Sauce - Only taste the chilly, dry old chilly .
    Score: 1.5

    Assam



    1. Skin - Skin thin and silky
    2. Meat flavourful. Almost there.
    3. Perfectly steamed. Juicy
    4. Chilly Sauce . Ok 
    Score: 4.4

    The Dilli Haat momo winners: Arunachal Pradesh - Momo Mia and Assam

    And after eating all these here's a commandement of my own: Thou shalt not covet a momo for at least a month .. Ok a week, for the search must go on . Only for you my crumpets.
    Part 2 to follow. . .

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