difference between momo dimsum
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What’s the Difference Between Momos and Dimsums?

“Have you ever heard anyone say to a street vendor ‘1 plate dimsums dena bhaiya’? (give me a plate of dimsums). That says it all. Momos belong to the street while dim sums are nothing but its classier version”

Raise your hands (okay, comment below) if you too think of this as the only difference between a momo and a dim sum.

The question has crossed my mind every time I dip a momo into the spicy red chutney and whenever I sit pretty in an up-market restaurant waiting for dim sums to arrive. Is it karma that made dim sum affluent presented in a gorgeous bamboo steamer box while its brother momo suffers on the streets?

Or is there an identity crisis here? Is there a difference other than class and caste?

The questions haunted me enough to investigate and find out. I started out by asking it out loud in a group full of passionate foodies (Delhi Foodies – We live to Eat) on Facebook. This was an attempt to know general perception. The majority of answers were predictable. The above-mentioned quote sums it up.

The Real Difference between Momos and Dimsums

The experts, however, give us something more to chew on.

Chef Veer Pratap Singh Parihar from Mei Kun at Kempinski Ambience Hotel, Delhi told Blue Sky Dreamers: “Momos can be called Dim sum, but all Dim sums cannot be called momos. Dimsum refers to the Cantonese style of food prepared as small bite-sized portions. In China or Guandong, eating dim sum is actually called “drinking tea”. Also known as Yum-Cha, these used to be tea houses for the traders along the silk route and that is from where the tradition has developed. Dim sum includes, but is not limited to dumplings, as the food items can include chicken feet, lotus-leaf-wrapped sticky rice, congee, sweet items like egg tarts and custard buns.

Momos are essentially a dumpling usually steamed and made essentially of wheat flour and a filling inside. Dimsum can be made with any kind of starch such as rice starch, potato starch and also wheat starch.”

Hungry? Try this ready-to-eat momos pack!

Celebrity Chef Saransh Goila explains further:

“Momos are mostly only made of refined flour or all-purpose flour whereas dim sums can be made of refined or any flour or any kind of starch… usually potato starch.”

Chef Saransh Goila

Thus, all momos are dim sums but all dim sums are not momos!

“Also, the main difference,” adds Chef Goila, “is that they’ve different names because they come from different regions.”

Momo originated in Tibet while dim sum is a product of China. Intriguingly, dim sums arrived in India much before –- as early as the 18thcentury. Yet, it did not gain popularity as much as momos did.

Got it? But what I still do not understand is why up-market fine dining restaurants do not serve momos and why dim sums wallahs are not on the streets. Any answers?

Also, tell us which are your favourite spots for momos and restaurants for dimsums in your city?

Purva is the co-founder of Blue Sky Dreamers. A journalist with 11 years of experience, she also freelances as a content writer & editor.

5 Comments

  • Aditya Kulshreshtha

    As an avid foodie and momo lover that finds himself gravitating to the momo stall in most given markets I too have had passing thoughts about this question but i I know it would probably be too technical or too pretentious for my liking. But I am struck by this realization that it is true that dim sums are usually the pricier and smaller option. I love both, and I’m too je nais sais quios to see a serious difference in taste and eating experience. And if youve spoken to chefs then that’s probably a pretty good source but one more thing I feel that could be a factor could be the country of origin. China is the biggest economy in the world (by PPP, the more credible way of measuring GDP) so perhaps theyre pumping money in restaurants or given their own rich culture in China, it’s their wealth that Indian restaurateurs try to match here. Tibet on the other hand has been sadly colonized n captured by China and their spiritual fountain head HH Dalai Lama has been living in India in exile for decades now. Theyre a deeply affected people and out ‘on the streets’ so to say and with that so is their culinary culture. One more reason to love and support momos eh. Buddhism is a religion born in Bihar. That’s something that’s not talked about enough and culturally and spiritually Tibet ought to be closer to India from that perspective but by economics, demographic change (genocide really) and brute force China has oppressed the land of Momos. I don’t know if that’s ‘the’ cause but it ought to be an important factor for sure, the money and power behind the Chinese dim sums over, if I may call them, ‘our’ Tibetan momos…

  • alpanadeo

    I have only seen Dim sums in pictures but dent know the name. Momos, yes..I love them and have tried them many times. Good to know about their origin and other facts.

    #MothersGurukulreads #Myfriendalexa

    • jaslok j

      I had my first brush with momos in Darjeeling in the 1980s in my boarding school. The flavour still lingers on and I’m yet to rediscover that flavour, be it the street side or classy restaurant. What we come across as momos today are nothing but momos in corrupt form… And it pains me to see it that way…

    • purvabhatia

      Thanks for your comment. That there is a difference is what the post says. We found from our research that momos belong to Tibet. Please do tell us the correct origin if this is wrong.

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