Ingredients
Dough
- 600 gplain flour
- 1 tspsalt
- 1egg
- 280 mlwarm water
Filling
- 700 glamb shoulder, hand-chopped
- 150 glamb tail fat, or fatty lamb, finely diced
- 3onions, very finely chopped
- 300 gpumpkin, finely diced
- 1 tspsalt
- 1 tspground black pepper
- 1 tspground cumin, if wanted
To grease
- vegetable oil, for the steamer trays
To serve
- melted butter
- sour cream or katyk
- black pepper
- a tomato and onion salad
- vinegar, at the table
Equipment
- a mantovarka, or a multi-tier steamer
Directions
- Cut the lamb into thin slices, then strips, then chop across into small pieces. Aim for pieces about three or four millimetres across. Dice it as finely as you can, into pieces the size of a grain of rice. Fatty lamb belly is the substitute if tail fat is unavailable.
- Chop them as finely as your knife allows. Do not grate them, since grated onion floods the filling with liquid. Cut it into pieces about the same size as the meat. Mixing the filling is done gently, unlike a meatball mixture.
- Combine the chopped lamb, fat, onion and pumpkin in a large bowl. Add the salt, pepper and cumin. Turn it over with your hands rather than kneading it. Cover it and chill it while you make the dough. The dough is plain, firm and unenriched apart from an egg.
- Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the egg and most of the warm water. Bring it together and knead for twelve minutes. It should be smooth and firm rather than soft. Cover it and rest it for forty-five minutes. Rolling and cutting comes next and needs a thin sheet.
- Divide the dough into four and keep three covered. Roll one piece out very thin on a floured surface. Cut it into squares of about twelve centimetres. Shaping them is done one at a time. Put a heaped tablespoon of filling in the centre of a square. Bring two opposite corners up and pinch them together at the top.
- Bring the other two corners up and pinch them to the first. Pinch each seam closed along its length. Bring the four points of the base together and pinch them. Oil the steamer trays generously.
- Arrange the manty with space between them so they do not touch. They swell during steaming and will stick together if crowded. Bring the water beneath to a rolling boil. Steam them for forty to forty-five minutes. Do not lift the lid in the first twenty minutes.
- Arrange them on a platter and brush them with melted butter. Grind black pepper over them generously. Serve sour cream or katyk alongside. Warn people that the juice inside is scalding hot.
Technique
- Hand-chop the lamb rather than mincing it, since a mincer crushes out the juices.
- Tail fat is what creates the pool of juice inside; a lean filling gives a dry manty.
- Oil the steamer trays generously, or the bases tear off.
Substitutions
- Fatty lamb belly in place of tail fat.
- Butternut squash in place of pumpkin.
Variations
- With beef in place of lamb.
- With potato in place of pumpkin, which is common in some regions.
- Fried after steaming, which is done with leftovers.
History
Steamed dumplings of minced lamb and pumpkin, carried along Silk Road routes from Central Asia.
Frequently asked questions
What is Manty?
Manty is a main from Kazakhstan: steamed dumplings of lamb and pumpkin with onion. Steamed dumplings of minced lamb and pumpkin, carried along Silk Road routes from Central Asia.
How long does Manty take to make?
Manty takes 1 hour 30 min of preparation and 45 min of cooking. The recipe makes 24 dumplings. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Manty?
Yes, within limits. Fatty lamb belly in place of tail fat. Butternut squash in place of pumpkin.
What is the most important thing to get right in Manty?
Chop them as finely as your knife allows. Do not grate them, since grated onion floods the filling with liquid. Cut it into pieces about the same size as the meat. Mixing the filling is done gently, unlike a meatball mixture.
