Manti

Manti (Mantı)

In Turkish: Mantı, usually written manti in English. In Hebrew it is written “מנתי” or “מנטי”. These are tiny meat dumplings considered the oldest Turkish dish to have survived: it arrived with the Turkic tribes from Central Asia, and it’s a cousin of Tibetan momo, Russian pelmeni and Georgian khinkali.

The pride of Kayseri manti, the most famous version, is the size of the dumplings: so small that 40 of them are supposed to fit on a single spoon. According to tradition, a prospective bride was tested on her ability to make them small enough. In a modern home kitchen you can settle for reasonably sized dumplings and still get the dish. The cooked manti is topped with three layers: yogurt with garlic, red butter with paprika, and dried mint and sumac on top.

Prep time: 60-75 minutes · Cooking time: 12 minutes · Total: about an hour and a half · Yield: 4 servings · Difficulty: High

From China to Kayseri: the dumpling’s migration

The name mantı is etymologically related to the Chinese mantou, a hint at the route the dish traveled: meat-filled dough dumplings migrated west from East Asia along with the nomadic tribes, leaving behind along the way Tibetan momo, Russian pelmeni, Georgian khinkali and Turkish manti. At each stop two things changed — the size of the dumpling and the sauce — but the idea stayed the same: a thin wrapper of flour around a little meat, a method that turns a small amount of meat into a filling meal.

In Kayseri, the capital of manti, the dish is still made in large quantities and dried: uncooked dumplings are spread on trays and dried completely, then stored for months in a jar and cooked as needed. Dried kuru mantı is sold packaged in markets like pasta, and it’s essentially a traditional form of convenience food.

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

For the dough:

• 300 g flour
• 1 egg
• 120-140 ml water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the filling:

• 250 g ground meat (lamb or beef, 15% fat)
• 1 small onion, grated and squeezed of its liquid
• A handful of chopped parsley
• Salt and black pepper to taste, 1/2 teaspoon cumin and 1/2 teaspoon pul biber or the substitute below

For the yogurt sauce:

• 400 g plain yogurt
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed with salt

For the paprika butter:

• 50 g butter (or 3 tablespoons olive oil)
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste, 1 teaspoon paprika
• Dried mint and sumac for sprinkling

Choosing ingredients and substitutes

Regular white flour and ground meat from the butcher work. Instead of half a teaspoon of pul biber, the Turkish pepper flakes, use a quarter teaspoon of sweet paprika and a pinch of chili to taste. Local plain yogurt works for the sauce; if it’s very thick, thin it with a spoonful or two of the cooking water once it has cooled slightly.

Method

1. Knead a stiff dough. Mix the flour, egg, salt and water and knead 10 minutes into a firm, elastic dough, stiffer than pasta dough. Wrap and rest 30 minutes — the rest is what allows thin rolling.
2. Make the filling. Mix the meat with the squeezed onion, parsley and spices. Squeezing the onion matters: liquid in the filling wets the dough and opens the dumplings during cooking.
3. Roll out and cut into squares. Roll the dough into a very thin sheet (1-2 mm) and cut into 2.5-3 cm squares. For a quick version — 4 cm squares.
4. Fill. Place a pea-sized amount in the center of each square, lift the four corners up and pinch between them into a closed bundle.
5. Cook. Bring salted water to a boil and cook the dumplings 8-12 minutes until they float and soften. You can also bake them 10 minutes at 200°C (392°F) before boiling — that’s the custom in Kayseri, and it adds a toasty flavor.
6. Prepare the toppings. Whisk the yogurt with the garlic. Melt the butter, and add the tomato paste and paprika off the heat.
7. Assemble. Drain the dumplings, pour the garlic yogurt over them, then the paprika butter, and sprinkle with dried mint and sumac. Serve immediately.

Nutrition facts and calorie estimate

The recommended serving is a quarter of the recipe — about 220 g of cooked dumplings with the sauce.

The calorie breakdown shows where the weight lies: the dough about 290 calories, the meat about 165, the butter about 90 and the yogurt about 60. Two decisions change the number more than anything else — swapping the butter for olive oil (a small calorie saving, a big improvement in fat profile) and choosing 0% yogurt instead of 3% (a saving of about 30 calories per serving).

Nutritionally it’s a fairly balanced dish for a dough-and-meat dish: 25 g of protein per serving, a good share of it from the yogurt. The downside is the white flour and the amount of saturated fat from the butter and meat.

Variations and tips

• Vegan manti: Fill with cooked lentils and fried onion, and replace the yogurt with soy yogurt. This version is common in Turkey during fasting periods.
• Freezing: Arrange the uncooked dumplings on a tray in a single layer, freeze, then transfer to a bag. Cook straight from frozen, adding 2-3 minutes.
• Saving time: Larger squares (4 cm) cut the work in half. Tradition prefers small; the home kitchen prefers getting it done.
• The cooking water: Save a spoonful of cooking water and stir it into the yogurt — that way it doesn’t split on contact with the hot dumplings.

Summary

Manti is the Turkish dish that demands the most patience and the fewest ingredients: flour, egg, meat and yogurt. About 610 calories per serving with 25 g of protein, and the yogurt layer is what makes it balanced rather than heavy. If you want the same family of flavors in ten minutes of work, you’ll find it in cacık, which is also served alongside Adana kebab. More recipes in Turkish cuisine.