Veg Momo Recipe With Suji

veg momos with suji

Do you know steamed stuff is diabetes friendly?

If you are looking for a diabetes recipe and also love momos, then this post is for you.

Momo or steamed dumplings seem to be a hot favorite snacking option among kids these days. Even I like veg momos. I started savoring these steamed dumplings when I shifted to Delhi. Yes, I had never tasted these before. But as I became more and more conscious about health and started watching my intake, we started to make a distance from momos, not because of calories, but since these dumplings use refined flour or all-purpose flour or maida.


No maida means diabetes friendly!
No sugar means diabetes friendly!
No fat means diabetes friendly!



Why Say No to Maida: White Flour Disadvantages
Maida is a big no at home - with no health benefits, all-purpose flour

• raises sugar and empty calories in your body
• does not have any minerals or vitamins
• is laced with alum to make it look whiter
• is devoid of any nutrition
• loses 98% magnesium, 80% iron, 70% phosphorus, 60% vitamin B, 50% calcium, and all of vitamin E during the refining process (source:Mercola)

Refined Flour Disadvantages

Excessive consumption of refined flour may risk your health and result in:

• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Cardiovascular disorders
• Gluten insenstivity
• Allergies
• Asthma
• Vitamin deficiencies 
• digestive disorders & illnesses
• toxicity, since chemicals are adding as a whitening agent

On top of it, these days, the flour processing methods have changed. The way grains are processed results in the formation of less gluten. As a result, artificial gluten forming agents are added to processed flours. The resulting flour is merely starch, devoid of any nutritional benefits.

Do you know roomali roti, baked goodies, naans, cakes, snacks, street foods, biscuits, pastas, samosas, kachoris, noodles, and the list is endless use maida?

High-Carbs are not good!

Overeating carbohydrate foods could trigger a reverse cycle in your body, preventing conversion of a higher percentage of fats into energy, resulting in 

• excess fat storage
• high insulin levels, causing insulin resistance and diabetes

Contrary to popular belief, you do not get fat by eating fat alone. But it is your carbohydrate intake that makes you fat. This includes sugar and grains.

Do you know your body has a limited capacity for carb storage?
Do you also know that your body can easily convert excess carbohydrates into fat? Surprised, are you?

Well, the body mechanism works this way - it stores any excess carbohydrates in the form of glycogen. In simple words, glycogen is glucose molecules tied together. Glycogen is stored in

• muscles
• liver

When these two storage areas of the body are filled with glycogen, any excess carbs turn into fat and are stored in the adipose tissue, also known as the fatty tissue.

Of course, there is no fat in carbohydrates, but storage of excess carbs in the body occurs in the form of fats.  When you relish a carb-rich diet or snack, it instantly raises your blood sugar levels. This blood glucose spike results in increased insulin production by pancreas. The insulin spike counters the high blood glucose levels.

What is insulin
Insulin acts like a storage hormone, responsible for storing excess carbohydrate calories and converting them into fat for future use. When blood sugar levels spike after diet, insulin levels increase. This insulin stimulation promotes storage of body fat!

Looks complex, isn't it? This is how your body mechanism works. This is exactly how excess carb intake hurts the body. This is how you become fat!

Do you know when you eat carb-rich diet, indirectly you are sending a message to your body to store excess carbs in the form of fat.

High insulin levels are dangerous in more ways than one. Insulin spikes:

• Supress activity of two key hormones that are responsible for burning of fat and sugar- glucogen and growth hormone.
• Hinder energy generation in the body, since insulin suppresses functioning of growth hormone that uses fat for muscle development.
• Lower blood sugar levels that often rise following the intake of a carbohydrate-rich meal, resulting in hunger pangs after a meal.

So what is the take away from this discussion on refined flour disadvantages?

Limiting your intake of refined flours and sugars can help your body ward off insulin resistance.
What I have learned is:

Say no to refined flours. Substitute them with healthier grains. Include more dietary fiber in your daily diet. A balanced diet holds the key to a healthier you!

Let's come back to the veg momo recipe.

veg momo recipe

I am on a mission to inspire others to quit maida and replace it with healthier grains, say whole wheat flour, oatmeal, rice flour, water chestnut flour, pearl millet, and what not! There are plenty of options out there.

So why use white flour when we know it does our bodies no good? Including it into your recipes merely for taste sake isn't a great idea. At least not for me!

This recipe takes inspiration from Deepti Aggarwal, a member of my healthy recipes Facebook group. In fact, the moment she shared this recipe, it won over me. I have been wanting to make suji momos since then. Today was the lucky day. A big thanks to Deepti for this groundbreaking veg momo recipe.

Ingredients for veg momo dough
1 cup suji (semolina)
1/2 cup- curd
1 tsp- oil
carom seeds (ajwain)
salt

Procedure

1. Collect dry ingredients in a bowl and then start mixing wet ingredients.
2. If the dough feels dry, add a drop or two of water.
3. We need a tough dough - not too hard though.
4. Let the dough rest covered for 4-5 hours.
5. After this, take lemon-sized balls out of it and roll them out in the form of very thin roti one by one.
6. Keep aside. 

Ingredients for filling

You may take vegetables of your choice, though I added only cabbage and capsicum, since these were the only vegetables available with me. 

Carrot, cabbage, ginger (adrak), capsicum, onion

salt

green chilly

1 tsp oil

Procedure

1. Take oil in a pan.
2. Add sliced onion. We do not want to make it pink. Let it remain crunchy.
3. Then add ginger. Saute for a couple of minutes and then add the remaning vegetables along with salt and green chilly.
4. Your filling ingredients are ready.
5. Start filling them in each thin poori.
6. Close it from all sides. You may apply little water at the ends so that they remain intact and do not open up.
7. Next take a steamer. Add water. You may take your idli stand.
8. Let veg momos steam for 10-12 mins.
9. Enoy with tomato chutney. I relished with tomato methi chutney. It did make a deadly combo.
10. Thanks once again to Deepti Aggarwal for sharing this healthier version of veg momos with suji.
11. Believe me, if you try this veg momo recipe once, you will forget the maida ones. Trust my words or try this recipe yourself.