Dawa's Restrauant

Hi to all of my family and friends, 

Even though I have enjoyed everything we have done so far, I think Sunday was one of the best days of the trip so far.  We got to spend the day with Dawa's family in Bylakuppe.  Dawa is our translator and his family owns a restaurant.  They are best know for their "momo's".  Momo's are a Tibeten dumpling, something like a potsticker.  We had the privilege of working with Dawa and his family in actually making the momo's.  

The dough of just flour and water is mixed up, kneaded slightly, and set aside until the filling is ready.  We made several kinds of momo's, a vegetable, meat, and combination vegetable and meat.  The vegetables of spinach, something like watercress (dont remember the name), garlic, ginger, and onion were chopped and added to a big bowl.  Then vegetable bullion and olive oil were added and all was mixed together.  

By now the dough was ready to roll out, then cut into about 1-1/2" squares.  Each square was rolled into a ball, then rolled out to make about a 4" circle, thicker in the middle.  A heaping tablespoon or more of filling was added to the dough and then the dough was folded around it to form either a circle or a crescent.  These can then be either steamed, boiled or fried. I think some of ours were steamed or boiled.  We had this delicious meal for lunch.  

After lunch we spent the afternoon shopping, and then returned to Dawa's for entertainment and a dinner meal prepared by his family.  The entertainment was a young Tibeten singer and also some of the elderly Tibeten women singing and dancing.  We also discovered that Dawa is quite talented as well, singing and dancing along with the elderly women.  It certainly was a fabulous performance by them, and they seemed to love doing it as well.  The dinner was by far, hands down, the best I had here in India.  They prepared so many different dishes, and one was better than the next.  As luck would have it, the power went out in the restaurant, and we ate by candlelight, how cool is that?  I was so grateful to have been a part of that wonderful experience with Dawa and his family, they are truly extraordinary people and I thank them for their hospitality. 

Stayed tuned, more to tell you about later.....

Linda

Sent from my iPad