Ingredients
Dough
- 500 gplain flour
- 1egg
- 1 tspsalt
- about 220 ml warm water
Filling
- 600 glamb shoulder, hand-chopped into small dice
- 150 glamb tail fat or fatty lamb, finely diced
- 3onions, very finely chopped
- 1½ tsp salt
- 2 tspground black pepper
- 1 tspground cumin
To serve
- 300 gsuzma or thick strained yoghurt
- melted butter
- black pepper
Directions
- Knead the flour, egg, salt and water into a firm, smooth dough — stiffer than pasta dough. Cover and rest it for 45 minutes; without the rest it fights back and cannot be rolled thin.
- Chop the lamb by hand rather than mincing it. Minced meat packs into a paste and gives a dense, wet filling; hand-cut meat stays in distinct pieces and the parcels are lighter for it.
- Mix the meat, fat, onion, salt, pepper and cumin. Do not add water — the onion releases plenty as it steams, and that juice is the point of the dish.
- Roll the dough out as thin as you can, ideally so newsprint shows through, and cut into 10 cm squares.
- Put a heaped spoonful of filling on each square. Bring two opposite corners together over it and pinch, then the other two, then pinch the four open seams shut and join the corners underneath. The parcel must be fully sealed or the juice escapes and is lost.
- Oil the tiers of a steamer well or the parcels will weld to them. Arrange the manti with space between them and steam over boiling water for 40–45 minutes.
- Serve at once, brushed with melted butter, with suzma spooned over or alongside and a heavy grinding of black pepper.
Technique
- The tail fat is not optional in the traditional version — it melts during steaming and bastes the meat from inside. Fatty lamb is the substitute; lean lamb gives a dry filling.
- Oiling the steamer tiers is the difference between lifting the manti off whole and tearing their bottoms out.
- Eat them with your fingers, and take the first bite carefully: the trapped juice is very hot.
Substitutions
- Beef with added fat works where lamb is unavailable.
- Pumpkin, diced small and mixed with onion, makes the standard vegetarian filling and needs 30 minutes’ steaming.
Variations
- Manti runs from Turkey to China, changing size and sauce as it goes — tiny in Kayseri under garlic yoghurt, large and juicy across Central Asia, related to Korean mandu and Chinese mantou by name if not always by form.
History
Steamed dumplings of lamb, onion and tail fat, eaten with suzma and black pepper.
Frequently asked questions
What is Manti?
Manti is a main from Uzbekistan: steamed dumplings plump with lamb and onion, dabbed with sour cream. Steamed dumplings of lamb, onion and tail fat, eaten with suzma and black pepper.
How long does Manti take to make?
Manti takes 1 hr 15 min of preparation and 45 min of cooking. The recipe makes makes 24. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Manti?
Yes, within limits. Beef with added fat works where lamb is unavailable. Pumpkin, diced small and mixed with onion, makes the standard vegetarian filling and needs 30 minutes’ steaming.
What is the most important thing to get right in Manti?
Chop the lamb by hand rather than mincing it. Minced meat packs into a paste and gives a dense, wet filling; hand-cut meat stays in distinct pieces and the parcels are lighter for it.
