The story
Manti are cooked in a tall tiered steamer, the mantiqasqon, which comes out for family meals and guests. Every family has its own way of folding them, and making them is a shared job — one person rolls, the others fill and pinch.
Cousins of manti are found right across the Turkic world, from Turkish mantı to Kazakh manty. In autumn, Uzbek cooks fill them with pumpkin and onion instead of meat, and those are just as loved.
How it tastes
A soft, thin dough around a filling full of juice — lamb, onion and black pepper. They are eaten with a spoon of yogurt or sour cream, and often with a little vinegar and chilli.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 500 g plain flour
- 1 egg
- 200 ml water
- 1 tsp salt
- 600 g fatty lamb or beef, chopped very finely
- 100 g lamb tail fat, finely chopped (optional)
- 4 onions, finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1½ tsp salt
- Oil for the steamer
- Yogurt or sour cream, to serve
Method
- Knead the flour, egg, water and salt into a firm dough and rest it for 30 minutes.
- Mix the meat, fat, onions, spices and salt with 2–3 tablespoons of water.
- Roll the dough thin and cut it into 12 cm squares.
- Put a spoonful of filling in the middle of each square. Bring two opposite corners together and pinch, then bring the other two corners up and pinch the side seams, making a small envelope.
- Oil the steamer tiers and set the manti in them without touching.
- Steam over boiling water for 40–45 minutes. Serve hot with yogurt or sour cream and black pepper.
