Klepe

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gplain flour
• 2eggs
• about 200 ml warm water
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• 1 tablespoonoil

Filling

• 500 gminced beef
• 1large onion, grated and drained
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• 1 teaspoonblack pepper
• a handful of parsley, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoonpaprika

Garlic yoghurt

• 600 gthick yoghurt
• 6garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• a ladle of the cooking water

To finish

• 80 gbutter
• 1 teaspoonsweet paprika
• black pepper

To serve

• hot in deep bowls
• bread alongside

Directions

1. Add the hot water to the yoghurt slowly. Sweet paprika is used rather than hot. Add it off the heat every time. Put the flour and salt on a work surface. Make a well in the middle of it. Beat the eggs and pour them in. Add the oil to the well as well. Add warm water gradually as you work. Bring it together into a firm dough. Knead it for a good ten minutes. It should become smooth and elastic.
2. Wrap the dough and let it rest. Give it at least thirty minutes. Grate the onion on a coarse grater. Put it in a sieve and press it hard. Squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Onion juice makes the filling too wet. Put the minced beef in a bowl. Add the drained grated onion to it. Add the salt, pepper and paprika. Add the chopped parsley as well.
3. Knead it with your hands for a few minutes. It should become sticky and cohesive. Chill it while you roll the dough. Rolling the dough takes real effort. Divide the dough into several pieces. Roll each out on a floured surface.
4. Take it down to about one millimetre. The dough should be nearly translucent. Cut the sheet into small squares. Make them about five centimetres across. Keep the offcuts covered as you work. Filling them takes a light touch. Put a small amount of filling on each square.
5. Use about half a teaspoon only. Do not overfill them at any point. Bring the four corners up to the middle. Pinch them together at the top. Press out any trapped air as you go.
6. Press from the filling outwards to expel it. Check every seam before cooking. Setting them aside takes care. Put them on a well floured tray. Keep them apart from each other. Cover them loosely with a cloth. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
7. Keep it barely moving throughout. Do not crowd the pot at any point. Ladle out a cup of the cooking water. It is needed to thin the yoghurt. Crush the garlic to a paste with salt. Stir it into the thick yoghurt. Beat it until it is completely smooth. Add a spoonful of hot cooking water.
8. Beat it in thoroughly before adding more. Keep adding a spoonful at a time. Work up to about half a cup in total. Judging the sauce takes a look. Melt the butter in a small pan. Take it off the heat entirely. Stir in the sweet paprika off the heat. Add plenty of black pepper to it. Paprika burns within seconds in hot butter.
9. Lift the klepe out with a slotted spoon. Set them out in warm deep bowls. Spoon the garlic yoghurt over them. Serve bread alongside for the sauce. They keep two days refrigerated. Boil them from frozen with two minutes more.

Technique

• The dumplings are served under thinned garlic yoghurt rather than in a broth, and that yoghurt is never cooked; it is tempered with hot cooking water added a spoonful at a time, which warms it without curdling and keeps its fresh sharp taste.
• Klepe belong with the manti branch of the Eurasian filled dumpling family, brought into Bosnia with Ottoman rule; they are usually somewhat larger than the famously tiny Kayseri manti but still small, with two or three fitting on a spoon.
• Sweet paprika is stirred into the melted butter off the heat every time, since it burns within seconds in hot butter and turns bitter immediately.

Substitutions

• Minced lamb works in place of beef in the filling.
• A pasta machine rolls the dough far thinner than a rolling pin.

Variations

• Some households serve them with the yoghurt alone and no butter.
• Manti, pelmeni and koldunai are the neighbouring dumpling traditions.
• The garlic is sometimes stirred into the butter instead of the yoghurt.

History

Small dumplings served in garlic yoghurt, related to Turkish mantı and brought to Bosnia by Ottoman cooking.

Frequently asked questions

What is Klepe?

Klepe is a main from Bosnia and Herzegovina: small meat dumplings under garlicky yogurt sauce. Small dumplings served in garlic yoghurt, related to Turkish mantı and brought to Bosnia by Ottoman cooking.

How long does Klepe take to make?

Klepe takes 1 hour 30 minutes of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Klepe?

Yes, within limits. Minced lamb works in place of beef in the filling. A pasta machine rolls the dough far thinner than a rolling pin.

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

Add the hot water to the yoghurt slowly. Sweet paprika is used rather than hot. Add it off the heat every time. Put the flour and salt on a work surface. Make a well in the middle of it. Beat the eggs and pour them in. Add the oil to the well as well. Add warm water gradually as you work. Bring it together into a firm dough. Knead it for a good ten minutes. It should become smooth and elastic.