This is Turkish dumplings aka mantı. Absolutely delicious. Although takes some time to put together, it will be finished in literally minutes.
Preparing the Dough
I confess, when I used to live in Istanbul, I never made mantı dumplings myself, as ready-made and delicious dumplings are sold in almost every shop. However I managed to spare some time for this post and here is the recipe. The only bad thing about these dumplings it takes a long time to prepare then they are gone literally in minutes. Delicious, irressitable. I hope you enjoy.
I used to hate recipes that say “as much flour as it takes” or “rule of thumb” or even worse “earlobe consistency”. However when it comes to preparing a dough, it is something somehow you cannot escape as the type of flour, the size of the egg, the warmth of the water and even the room temperature affect the results. Nevertheless I gave exact measurements as you can see in the recipe card below. Your objective should be to obtain a stiff dough. It should not be too soft or sticky.
After you obtain a big ball of dough, do not forget to keep it covered all along the process with a clean kitchen towel. Rest for about ten minutes before rolling and cutting the dough. When time is up divide the dough into four, this will make the rolling easier. Then using a roller or rolling pin to obtain dough sheets with a thickness of about 2 mm.
Preparing the Dumplings
Do not worry about making the sheets perfectly round or square. When you obtain the 2mm thickness, cut the sheets to 2cm squares. Place a pinch of the meat filling in each square and follow the pictures to make fancy looking uniform dumplings. Place them side by side in a tray.
There are many other methods of making dumpling bundles. You can make an envelope looking one or a little purse looking one. You can even cut squares with a pizza cutter and not worry about the curling job. Which ever you choose will be fine. As long as you make sure the filling stays inside the bundle, the taste will be the same. So really, do not worry about it.
Cook in a salted boiling water for about 8 minutes. Drain and save the broth to make a delicious soup afterwards. I generally prepare Chicken Soup with Orzo with this broth and it turns out superb every time.
Preparing the Mantı Plate
While the dumplings are cooking you should prepare the sauces.
- The yogurt is really easy, just mix it with crushed and minced garlic and a pinch of salt.
- You can prepare the tomato garnish and the butter garnish together in the same pot, to make one less pot to wash.
- Seasoning with spices is totally up to every person. So I suggest you just put all the spices on the table to leave everyone do their own seasoning.
Hope you will enjoy. It is definitely a whole dish, so do not prepare any appetizers or side dishes when you have mantı for lunch. If you absolutely want to make an addition to the table some pickles will be nice to have.
Turkish Ravioli / Mantı
Ingredients
Dough
- 500 grams flour
- 1 egg
- 200 millilitres water
- 1 teaspoon salt
Filling
- 200 gram minced meat beef
- 1 onion grated
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 10 stalks parsley optional
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
- 1 pinch paprika
Yogurt Garnish
- 500 gram yogurt
- 5 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 pinch salt optional
Tomato Garnish
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tomato grated
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 teaspoon dry mint flakes
Butter Garnish
- 2 table spoon butter
- 1 tea spoon red pepper flakes
Spices – Optional
- 1 pinch dry mint flakes
- 1 pinch cumin
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 pinch sumac
Instructions
Dough and Packing
- Add almost all the flour – spare about ⅕ – into a large mixing bowl. Make a hole in the middle and also add the egg, water and salt.
- Knead until you obtain a non-sticky dough. Should take about 10 minutes
- Set aside the dough, covering it with a clean kitchen towel for at least 10 minutes. Always keep dough covered with a cloth when you are not using/handling it.
- Sprinkle your workspace with some flour. Cut the dough into four. Spread each using a roller or a rolling pin to achieve a thickness about 1-2 mm.
- Cut each sheet to small squares of 2 centimetres. Put one on top of the other.
- Put small amounts of filling in each square.
- First fold one corner somewhat diagonally.
- Then turn it to the other side. While putting your finger in the middle, stick the other facing two corners to each other.
- Continue until all the material is finished. While you are doing this, put the little bundles to a tray, so they do not stick to each other. You may want to sprinkle additional flour on top so they do not stick while waiting and/or cooking.
- The important thing is to somehow stick the corners together, so if you find this method difficult, you can try other shapes, methods or even invent new ones. The taste will be the same.
- If you will not cook all of it, you can freeze them on a tray and then put them in a box/bag and keep them in the freezer.
Filling
- Filling is prepared raw. Mince or grate the onions and the garlic. Just mix well all the filling ingredients and the filling is ready. Meat should be minced beef with around 12% fat.
Yogurt Garnish
- Crush the garlic and mix well with plain yogurt. You may also choose to add a pinch of salt.
Tomato Garnish
- Add the olive oil to a small pot.
- Grate the tomato. If the tomatoes are not giving out color or not in season, you can also use ready tomato pure (about 200 millilitres) or tomato paste (2 tablespoons) .
- Add all the other tomato garnish ingredients. Cook until well combined. You may add several tablespoons of hot water, if necessary to make it fluid. Let simmer for at least 10 minutes.
Butter Garnish
- Melt the butter in a small pot and add the red pepper flakes. Cook, mixing for a minute, do not burn.
Cooking and Serving
- Prepare a big pot with 1.5 litres of boiling water and 1 teaspoon of salt. When water comes to boil. Add the dumplings. Cook for about 5-8 minutes. When the dumplings rise to the top of the water it is a sign that they are ready. Taste one, if pleased with it, drain. Save the stock to make a soup later.
- First place the dumplings in every plate. Then the yogurt, then the tomato garnish, followed by the butter garnish. Sprinkle with spices and the plate is ready. Enjoy.
Notes
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