Chinese Robot Performs Opera

I have the best sister anyone could ever ask for. I am visiting Minneapolis where my sister lives. We drank Chinese tea for the better part of an afternoon. Then we spent a lot of time biking around the city (she does not have a car)--Big epiphany, I realized that I could like cities, love cities (at least for awhile), if it did not involve driving in them. It was a totally new experience to use a bike for transportation rather than recreation. On bike, we caught hefty delicate whiffs of the fruit trees blooming, saw a marching band practicing, caught a peek at a shooting star, watched the almost full pumpkin moon rising over the Mississippi with the city sky line in the background and caught glimpses of multiple Prince (the singer) look-a-likes. It was fun to actually experience the city and hear/feel the heartbeat of the neighborhoods while we biked through instead of just cursing out belligerent drivers.

After biking 12 miles round trip to a movie my sister had a surprise that she had been working on. She had spent a couple hours that afternoon working on it and had been teasing me about it for some time. My sister is a Chinese Robot but with amazing ideas, lots of creativity and graphic design skills. I was directed to sit down on the couch, her boyfriend (Brady) turned up the music and she began to perform Chinese Opera, complete with cooking pot lids as props for cymbals. The clock struck midnight and the cymbals crashed in Chinese fashion; Brady and I laughed and she had a hard time not laughing herself. Then she brought out a beautiful delish cake for her 1/2 Ukrainian, 1/2 Chinese sister. The opera story continued with her cutting the cake in the performance and eventually us eating it. The cake was a checkered cake with jello in it (although I never would have guessed). The jello was not the secret to making the cake checkered and after much guessing, the secret was eventually revealed to me. The performance was complete with a flyer that she had made advertising her debut.

Tibetan Recipe for Jiouzha/Momos/Steamed Dumplings

Ok found this great book--actually my sista found this great book --"The Lhasa Moon Tibetan Cookbook" and here's a recipe for momos. The book says it is the single dish that represents Tibetan food. Also says that momos are never eaten on the first day of the new year, because the meat closed up in the doug would signify a shutting off of good luck. Also the book says that the main thing is trying to keep the ingredients inside the pocket moist. There are apparently also subtle techiniques involved in eating momos. One should first bite a small hole in the dough and suck out the juices, then spoon chili sauce into the hole and eat the rest (no I did not make this part up).
Enuf said, here's the recipe and good luck!

BASIC MOMO DOUGH

This amount will serve 4 as a main course or 8 as an appetizer
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup water

Mix the flour and water into dough, and knead it well. The amount of water needed may vary slightly depending on the age of the flour. The dough should be as moist as for ordinary bread. Cover the dough and set it aside to rest while preparing the momo filling.

Knead the dough until it becomes elastic, Keep the surface of the dough, your hands and the work table well floured. Roll the dough under your palms to a long cylinder about one inch in diameter. Break off balls of dough, each about one inch in diameter. Roll each ball in your palms to make a smooth sphere and then press to flatten it into a small circle. Use a floured rolling pin to enlarge the circle, working in a circular motion around the edges so that the middle remains slightly thicker.

If you are using more than one filling, use different shapes to tell them apart (clever!).

For all shapes, begin by holding the circle of dough in your left hand and place a tablespoon of filling in the center. Vegetable momos especially should be filled quite tightly, as the filling will shrink when it cools. Also you don't need to moisten the edges of the dough to make them stick.

HOW TO COOK MOMOS

Arrange the momos on a lightly oiled steamer tray. You can fit them as close together as you like, so long as they do not touch. Bring water to a boil before placing the trays of momos in the steamer.

Steam meat momos for 10 minutes at most and vegetable momos for 5-7 minutes. Spinach momos need only 4 minutes as filling is precooked. Test them by opening the steamer and touching the dough lightly with a fingertip, the dough will no longer be sticky when done.

BEEF MOMO FILLING

1 lb. beef
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 inches fresh ginger finely ground
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground emma (sichuan pepper)
1/3 c. green onion or chives
1 tsp. oil
1/4 cup water
3 stalks celery chopped
1/4 tsp salt.

CHICKEN MOMO FILLING

1 lb. boneless chicken
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
2 inches fresh ginger, finely choped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground emma (Sichuan pepper)
1/3 cup chives, chopped
1 tsp oil
1/4 cup water
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
1/4 tsp salt.

VEGETABLE MOMO FILLING

1/2 bunch celery, finely chopped
1/2 small cabbage
1 bunch spinach
1 bunch onion greens
1 T oil
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh ginger, finely ground
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp emma (Sichuan peppper)
10 mint leaves
1 T soy sauce
1/4 tsp salt

Saute the onion til brown and then add garlic, ginger, paprika, emma and mint. Cook the spices briefly, then remove from heat. Add the soy and salt. Add cooked mixture to raw mixture. Toss lightly.