"YOMARI" - The Lost Recipe

- May 10, 2020

Yomari- “Yo” means “to like” and “Mari” means “Delicacy or bread "

It’s easy for a tiny state to be lost among two giants, each with a rich and diverse culture and cuisine of their own. That’s Sikkim for me. With Bhutan,Nepal and China, the culinary greats by its side, Sikkim cuisine seems almost lost, forgotten. The cuisine itself isn’t one that fights for attention, but is mild and restrained, with simple flavours that wow the palate in a way that Bhutanese ,Nepalese and Chinese explosions of flavour cannot.

Ingredients

400 gm Rice flour
50 gm Wheat flour
200 gm Chaku (Molasses)
½ cup Roasted Sesame seeds (ground)
½ cup Roasted Cashew nut or peanuts (ground)
½ cup Coconut (grated) Vegetable oil

Methods

For fillings:

Break the Chaku (molasses) to small pieces, so that it can be evenly cooked. In a saucepan, put the Chaku and pour a cup of hot water. Heat the pan until Chaku completely melts in water. Add crushed sesame seed, cashew nuts, coconut and a tablespoon of rice flour. Cook in low heat with continuous stirring until the paste becomes gooey (honey consistency).

For making Yomari:

In a bowl, take rice flour and wheat flour, mix them together and add around one and half cup of lukewarm water. Mix it together using your hand or food processer. Dough should be very soft but not runny. Add some water if it’s hard and some more rice floor if it’s runny.
Then oil your hand with vegetable oil to make sure that dough doesn’t stick to your hand. Take a small portion of dough in your hand; start making the shape of Yomari and cavity for fillings with your index finger. Fill the Yomari with the fillings. Check out this video for making the Yomari.

Steam Yomari in a momo steamer for around 10-15 mins. Sweet and fluffy Yomari is ready. Eat it when it is hot. I love the bitter sweetness of Chaku and nuttiness of roasted sesame seed and cashew nuts.

Finally! I couldn’t wait to try these fish-shaped dessert Available with two filling choices – dried fruit and chocolate, it is prepared to worship the goddess of grain, Annapurna during the full moon after the harvest. I tried the dried fruit one which had a mix of coconut, jaggery, dried fruits and nuts served in a warm, thickened milk. This isn’t one of those indulgent desserts, and it’s mild sweetness didn’t send me on a guilt trip – so thumbs up!