Monday Morning Spice: Momos in Sikkim

After last week’s edition, I figured – showing photos of beautifully tasty food to start a Monday morning might not be bad idea at all ;). So, continuing in the same vein.. here’s a photo of Momos I devoured when I was travelling in Sikkim, in north-east India.

Momos are dumpling made of flour and water, and are very popular in Nepal, Tibet and Himalayan states of India like Sikkim. They can have different types of fillings, like different kinds of meat, mixed with chopped-up onion, garlic, ginger, coriander and other veggies. Vegetarian momos are also quite popular, especially in India.

They are most often eaten with a very very tasty chilli-sauce or a pickle (called aachaar in Hindi) – which I think is almost the best part of it! 😀

Momos in Sikkim, India.

Also, you noticed the brown-coloured plate? It’s called a ‘pattal‘ and is a plate made of dried sal (or at times, banyan) leaves. The leaves are stuck together with toothpick-like small sticks. Brilliant, innit?! Great use of natural resources without causing any plastic wastage and pollution! 🙂

Feeling hungry? 🙂

Have you tried Momos before? Aren’t they delicious?

Did you know? International Red Panda Day!

A day dedicated to a creature of infinite cute-ness! Yes, yesterday, September 17th was the International Red Panda Day – I just found out. And this news sent me whirling down the memory lane..

My first encounter (not literally!) with a red panda was through the timeless classic Jungle Book. To be specific – the TV serial Jungle Book Shonen (Japanese animation), the hindi version of which used to air on Sunday mornings on the national television of India. Pappu, the red panda was the little cute friend of Mowgli – always portrayed as a little helpless but a bit mischievous, and always very very cute! You can see him riding on Mowgli’s neck in this lovely opening theme of the serial..

A couple of years back, I went to Sikkim, a little state in the north-eastern region of India, nestled between the mountain kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan. Incidentally, Red Panda, an animal with ‘vulnerable’ status, is found in Sikkim and I was super-excited to get a chance to see this elusive animal, even if in captivity. Sikkim zoo, built on the concept of ‘Immersion exhibit’ which provides large areas and semi-natural habitat for the animals. When we went to the zoo, it was raining, and most of the animals were taking shelter inside their enclosures, and we didn’t have a lot of luck spotting any red pandas in the huge area allocated to them. And as the weather held up, we saw this cute red panda unable to avoid its curiosity to look at the trigger-happy tourists.. 🙂

Red Panda peeking from its hiding place!

Still very curious, Mr Red Panda!

We also got to see more of this adorable creature from a closer distance in the Darjeeling zoo, which had a lot more trees (which is a good thing, as red panda is an arboreal animal) but smaller in space (which was a bit disappointing 😦 )

What's on his mind? Food? Mischief? Or just the desire to be photographed? 🙂

Wednesday Wanderings: Changu Lake, Sikkim

Sikkim is a small little state of India’s north-eastern region, sandwiched between the Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan. And not surprisingly, it has its own impressive share of snow-clad peaks, natural vegetation and high altitude lakes.

One of these is the Changu lake (or Tsongmo lake), located at a height of about 12,400 ft, just 40 km from Gangtok, the capital of city and can be reached via the highway next to the highway to Nathula Pass, a border point between India and China.

Changu (Tsongmo) Lake, Sikkim. Photo credits: Wiki user Vacha

Owing to the high altitude, and the fact that it is a glacial lake, Changu Lake is known to freeze-up in winter months. When I visited Sikkim, it was around mid-May, it had probably just melted and it was still very very cold there. I imagine even these yaks must be shivering. 🙂

Yaks in traditional dress-up at Changu Lake, Sikkim. Photo credits: Author

Or they might be thinking.. “Oh, you wuss! It’s just zero degrees Celsius here.. it’s too warm out here.. someone, get us a fan..”