First Thing comes in our mind After Thinking Momo in India is Spicy Red Chilli Sauce and Mayonise. Firstly Lets understand the historical aspect of why we have so much Chinese food near us, so much so that it has become an inseparable part of our restaurant menus and our lives. No other foriegn cuisine has made it so far and deep in India.
What is also important is that Chinese food has no doubt gone under massive changes to satisfy the Indian palate, without which things would be really different. Also the major part of this explosion of Chinese food is cause of street side red Chinese hand carts. They should bear the most credit for this Chinese food revolution Especially Momo in India.
Unlike the USA, In india most of the Chinese restaurants are owned by Indians, and the majority of the chefs come from either west Bengal or the beautiful country of Nepal. This is one of the main reasons for Chinese restaurants mushrooming all over the country. The best culinary gift the people of Nepal brought to India was the momos.
So momo is a Nepali word for dumplings and was commonly found in the north east Indian states, now momos have taken every big and small cities in India by storm. Something we absolutely love and thought it were a authentic Chinese dish. Though Chinese cuisine has a variety of dumplings, the momos are quite different. The fact that we have quick service restaurants brands in India that mainly sell momos proves our love for this dish.
Laal chutney and Mayonnaise are the dippings people chooses to eat with the Momo in india. one could argue that momos have been overrated and the experiments with the recipes have gone too far, like the creation of chocolate momos. No matter which side you choose, we can’t deny that Momos have taken the street food market by storm.
It is considered a newer dish for most people of Mumbai who were habituated to only see dishes like pani puri, vada pav and sandwich on the street. But in Delhi it’s a different story altogether. Without any doubts, momos were more popular on the streets of Delhi than in Mumbai. According to Zomato Delhi consumes more momo than Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune combined.
That’s a lot of momo.
So Why Does Delhi Have More Momo in India Than Mumbai?
A possible answer to that could be that Chinese food was more easily available on the streets of Mumbai much before Delhi, So the entry of the momos don’t excite the people of Mumbai much as they already had the Umami flavors on the street. Secondly Delhi was once the most preferred destination for work and settlement of the Northeast Indians. And as we all no that Momos are from the NorthEast.