Manti

Name: Manti
Prep time: 1 h 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 400 g plain flour; 2 eggs; 150 ml water; 1 tsp salt; 300 g minced beef, not too lean (15% fat); 1 onion, grated and drained; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp black pepper; ½ tsp pul biber; 2 tbsp chopped parsley; 500 g thick full-fat yoghurt, at room temperature; 3 garlic cloves, crushed with ½ tsp salt; 80 g butter; 1 tbsp tomato paste (optional); 2 tsp pul biber; 1 tbsp dried mint; Ground sumac, to finish

Makes 4 servings

Units

Ingredients

Dough

400 gplain flour
2eggs
150 mlwater
1 tspsalt

Filling

300 gminced beef, not too lean (15% fat)
1onion, grated and drained
1 tspsalt
1 tspblack pepper
½ tsppul biber
2 tbspchopped parsley

Yoghurt sauce

500 gthick full-fat yoghurt, at room temperature
3garlic cloves, crushed with ½ tsp salt

Butter sauce

80 gbutter
1 tbsptomato paste (optional)
2 tsppul biber
1 tbspdried mint
Ground sumac, to finish

Directions

Knead the flour, eggs, water and salt for 10 minutes into a firm, smooth dough – much stiffer than pasta dough. Wrap and rest 45 minutes so the gluten relaxes.
Mix the filling ingredients thoroughly with your hand for 2 minutes until it turns slightly sticky and binds. Chill until needed.
Roll the dough out on a floured board as thin as you can, ideally 1 mm, then cut it into 2 cm squares with a knife or wheel. Kayseri cooks say forty manti should fit on one spoon.
Put a filling the size of a lentil – no more than a quarter teaspoon – in the centre of each square.
Pinch the four corners up over the filling and press the seams together into a small sealed pouch. Keep the finished ones under a cloth so they do not dry and crack.
Butter a wide oven tray, arrange the manti in a single layer and dry them in a 100°C (200°F) oven for 15 minutes, or air-dry uncovered for 45 minutes. This is traditional and stops them bursting.
Boil in well-salted water for 8–10 minutes until they float and the dough at the pinched seam is tender – taste one, the seam is the thickest part and the true test.
Beat the garlic into the room-temperature yoghurt. Melt the butter with the tomato paste and pul biber until it foams and turns red, about 1 minute. Drain the manti, spoon the yoghurt over, pour the hot butter across, then scatter dried mint and sumac and serve at once.

Technique

The yoghurt must be at room temperature. Cold yoghurt straight from the fridge chills the dumplings and can split under the hot butter.
Manti are judged on smallness. Kayseri manti are famously tiny – the size gives the right ratio of thin dough to seasoning, and large ones eat like ravioli instead.
Save a ladle of the cooking water and loosen the yoghurt with it if the sauce is too stiff to coat.

Substitutions

Minced lamb is used as often as beef, especially in the southeast.
For a fast version, freeze the shaped manti on a tray and cook from frozen, adding 2 minutes to the boiling time.

Variations

Manti baked dry in the oven until golden before being simmered briefly in stock, a Kayseri and Sivas method.
Boşnak mantısı, larger open-topped rolls baked rather than boiled.

History

Small dumplings filled with minced meat, generally traced to Central Asian Turkic culinary tradition and carried westward into Anatolia through Turkic migration over the course of many centuries, connecting manti to a much wider family of dumplings found across Central Asia and into China, sharing a linguistic root with Chinese mantou. Turkish manti are distinguished from many of their Central Asian cousins by their small size, often barely larger than a fingernail, and by being served with a garlicky yoghurt sauce and a drizzle of chili-infused butter or oil rather than eaten plain or in broth. Making manti by hand, folding dozens or even hundreds of individually tiny dumplings for a single meal, remains a labor-intensive process closely associated with communal, multi-generational kitchen work in Turkish households.

Frequently asked questions

What is Manti?

Manti is a main from Turkey: tiny beef dumplings under garlic yoghurt, chili butter and dried mint. Small dumplings filled with minced meat, generally traced to Central Asian Turkic culinary tradition and carried westward into Anatolia through Turkic migration over the course of many centuries, connecting manti to a much wider family of dumplings found across Central Asia and into China, sharing a linguistic root with Chinese mantou. Turkish manti are distinguished from many of their Central Asian cousins by their small size, often barely larger than a fingernail, and by being served with a garlicky yoghurt sauce and a drizzle of chili-infused butter or oil rather than eaten plain or in broth. Making manti by hand, folding dozens or even hundreds of individually tiny dumplings for a single meal, remains a labor-intensive process closely associated with communal, multi-generational kitchen work in Turkish households.

How long does Manti take to make?

Manti takes 1 hr 30 min of preparation and 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Manti?

Yes, within limits. Minced lamb is used as often as beef, especially in the southeast. For a fast version, freeze the shaped manti on a tray and cook from frozen, adding 2 minutes to the boiling time.

What is the most important thing to get right in Manti?

Pinch the four corners up over the filling and press the seams together into a small sealed pouch. Keep the finished ones under a cloth so they do not dry and crack.