Momo notebook recipe
Street-style Momo Jhol
Street-style momo jhol, the kind that should come in a plastic bottle and be applied with no dignity and no restraint. This is not a delicate achar. This is momo shop jhol: nutty from roasted soybeans, peanuts, and sesame, sharp with mustard oil, green chilli, coriander, lime, and timur.
Yield
About 1.2 to 1.5 litres, depending on how much stock you add. Enough for a large momo session.
How I use it
It should be runny enough to flood the plate, but still have enough body to cling to the momo. Think momo-shop squeeze bottle, not hummus.
Ingredients
- 160 g soybeans
- 60 g peanuts
- 30 g sesame seeds
- 50 ml mustard oil
- 8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 2 medium onions, roughly chopped
- Ginger, about half as much as the garlic, roughly chopped
- Green chillies, to taste, roughly chopped
- 1 full cup fresh coriander, leaves and tender stems
- Timur, generously, to taste
- Chicken stock, as needed, to thin
- Lapsi powder, optional
- Lime juice, to taste
- Salt, to taste
Method
- 1Make the roasted base: roast the soybeans, peanuts, and sesame separately until each is fragrant and slightly darker. The sesame will roast much faster than everything else, so do not throw it all in one pan and hope for justice. Once cool, rub the skins off the peanuts. This part is not negotiable. Soybeans are better deskinned too, but they are a pain, and a powerful enough blender can do the job.
- 2Cook the aromatics: heat the mustard oil in a pan over medium heat until it loosens and starts to shimmer.
- 3Add the garlic and cook until golden brown. Do not burn it. Burnt garlic will bully the whole jhol.
- 4Add the onions, ginger, and green chillies.
- 5Cook until the onions soften and lose their raw edge. You are not trying to caramelize them deeply. You just want them sweet, soft, and ready to blend.
- 6Blend the jhol: combine the roasted soybean, peanut, and sesame mix with the cooked onion, garlic, ginger, and chilli mix.
- 7Add the fresh coriander and a generous amount of timur, then blend.
- 8Thin with chicken stock a little at a time until the jhol pours easily from a bottle.
- 9Add lapsi powder, if using. Start small. It brings that very Nepali sourness, but it can take over quickly.
- 10Balance with lime juice and salt. Add lime until it wakes up. Add salt until it stops tasting like ingredients and starts tasting like jhol.
- 11Adjust the texture with more stock if it is too thick. Blend again if needed.
- 12Serve generously, ideally from a plastic bottle, squeezed with the confidence of someone who paid for ten momo and expects the full experience.
Notes
Timur is not just seasoning here. It is part of the personality.
Add enough that the jhol has that citrusy, numbing, slightly dangerous edge. The polite version tingles. The better version taps your tongue on the shoulder and asks if it is ready for the evening.
A rough timur guide: 1 teaspoon is friendly, 2 teaspoons is momo shop energy, and 3 teaspoons or more means the bottle has opinions.
The right amount is where the jhol feels alive, but the momo is still allowed to speak.
This jhol should be loose, tangy, nutty, and a little chaotic. The soybeans give it body. The peanuts round it out. The sesame makes it smell like someone knows what they are doing.
Chicken stock gives it depth, but water also works. If using water, you may need a bit more salt, lime, and patience.
Lapsi powder is optional, but if you have it, this is exactly where it belongs. It gives the jhol that sour Nepali street-side snap that lime can imitate but not fully replace.
Best served with steamed momo, but honestly, if the jhol is good enough, fried momo will also behave.