when it happened: june 2, 2023
where it happened: home, india
It was one of those days where we cooked as a family and brought hell down to the kitchen. My mother was handling it pretty well as always and I was surprised because I did not make it easy. We decided to make a whole spread of Chinese food on a Friday night because my mom had all the stuff we needed—rice wine, shiitake mushrooms and what not. I was feeling ambitious hence, I volunteered to make an appetiser; momos. It was a roller coast of emotions straight from waiting for the dough to set and waiting for it to be fully cooked.
Memory highlights:
This experience taught me a lot of things. Some were definitely considered highlights. I was the first one to step into the kitchen to make my appetiser; the dish that was supposed to be ready first. Keep in mind, this was the first time I was making dough with all purpose flour. I thought I followed the recipe and added the required flour and water. As I mixed it, it started becoming too sticky to be dough that can be rolled. So I added another cup of flour. It was not enough. I yelled SOS and my mom said “all purpose flour needs less water” which, obviously, I did not know. I ended up adding about half a packet (about 3 cups?) more of all purpose and we salvaged the dough. My mom began cooking when I first put the flour in the bowl because she was making two main dishes. By the time the dough set, I cooked the stuffing - which somehow I didn’t manage to mess up considering there was chicken. Just when I thought I was at a fairly good pace, I began rolling the dough in thin circles but it kept tearing and coming all shapes except a circle. Then, my mom walks to me and she says, “I’m done with the rice and gravy, I think I should do the rolling. Everyone was getting hungry”. After this happened, it was a speedy process of putting the stuffing in and rolling the momos and tossing it into the big pan to steam it. We just had to wait another 15 minutes for it to be done. Nonetheless, I was glad everyone honoured the ‘appetiser’ and waited for it to be done before we dove into the main food.
